Three Magnolias Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in First Bancorp $FBNC

Three Magnolias Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 11,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $718,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of First Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $380,347,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in First Bancorp in the second quarter worth $45,055,000. First Bancorp Inc ME bought a new stake in First Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $25,711,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $19,779,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in shares of First Bancorp by 176.4% during the first quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 429,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,220,000 after buying an additional 274,289 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on First Bancorp from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Zacks Research downgraded First Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of First Bancorp from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded First Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.94.

First Bancorp Stock Down 0.9%

First Bancorp stock traded down $0.53 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $59.32. 70,798 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 234,803. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day moving average of $63.42 and a 200 day moving average of $61.41. First Bancorp has a 12-month low of $45.96 and a 12-month high of $66.78.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $127.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $126.07 million. First Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 22.12%. Research analysts anticipate that First Bancorp will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. First Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.81%.

First Bancorp Company Profile

First Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Through its principal subsidiary, First Bank, the company provides banking and financial services to individuals, businesses, and organizations.

First Bank offers deposit accounts, consumer and commercial loans, residential and commercial real estate financing, mortgage services, treasury and cash-management solutions, and online and mobile banking. The bank also provides wealth management and investment-related services through its financial services operations.

Founded in 1983, First Bancorp has grown from a community banking organization serving North Carolina’s Sandhills region into a regional banking company with locations across North Carolina and South Carolina.