First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) Raised to “Hold” at Zacks Research

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on FRBA. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of First Bank from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of First Bank in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded First Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Bank has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.00.

First Bank Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of FRBA opened at $17.73 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $15.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.35. First Bank has a 12 month low of $14.40 and a 12 month high of $18.11. The company has a market capitalization of $445.02 million, a PE ratio of 10.62 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The bank reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.17). First Bank had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 17.02%.The company had revenue of $36.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.98 million. On average, analysts anticipate that First Bank will post 1.56 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Bank

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FRBA. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. bought a new position in First Bank in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,092,000. Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in shares of First Bank by 93.0% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 564,089 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,189,000 after purchasing an additional 271,825 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Bank in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,685,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of First Bank by 49.0% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 144,120 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,348,000 after purchasing an additional 47,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new position in shares of First Bank in the third quarter valued at approximately $569,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.86% of the company’s stock.

First Bank Company Profile

First Bank provides various banking products and services to small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. The company accepts various deposits, including non-interest-bearing demand deposits, interest bearing demand accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as commercial checking accounts. It also offers various loan products comprising commercial and industrial loans, which include line of credit, inventory, equipment, and short-term working capital financing; commercial real estate loans, such as owner-occupied, investor, construction and development, and multi-family loans; residential real estate loans comprising residential mortgages, first and second lien home equity loans, and revolving lines of credit; and consumer and other loans consists of auto, personal, traditional installment, and other loans.