Insider Selling: First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) Director Sells 22,800 Shares of Stock

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) Director Mason Y. Garrett sold 22,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.41, for a total transaction of $989,748.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 196,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,526,418.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

First Bancorp Stock Performance

First Bancorp stock traded down $1.35 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $41.84. 247,551 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 160,200. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $33.22 and a 200 day moving average of $33.62. First Bancorp has a 12 month low of $26.00 and a 12 month high of $45.41. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.10 and a beta of 1.03.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.11. First Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.39% and a net margin of 20.17%. The firm had revenue of $143.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.00 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that First Bancorp will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

First Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. First Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on FBNC. StockNews.com downgraded First Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on First Bancorp from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.00.

Institutional Trading of First Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of First Bancorp by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,848,591 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,418,000 after buying an additional 112,422 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of First Bancorp by 77.7% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,041,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,613,000 after buying an additional 455,406 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $943,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in First Bancorp by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,789,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $103,228,000 after acquiring an additional 52,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust Co. VA bought a new position in First Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $4,071,000. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About First Bancorp

First Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides banking products and services for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. The company accepts deposit products, such as checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts.