The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the bank on Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th.

First Bancshares has increased its dividend payment by an average of 28.9% per year over the last three years.

First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of FBMS traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $33.23. The company had a trading volume of 141,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 195,918. The company has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $32.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.43. First Bancshares has a 1-year low of $22.96 and a 1-year high of $34.40.

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. First Bancshares had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 8.82%. The firm had revenue of $104.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. Analysts expect that First Bancshares will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FBMS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised First Bancshares from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded First Bancshares from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of First Bancshares in a research note on Sunday. They set a "sell" rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $35.50.

First Bancshares Company Profile

The First Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for The First Bank that provides general commercial and retail banking services. The company operates through three segments: Commercial/Retail Bank, Mortgage Banking Division, and Holding Company. It offers deposit services, including checking, NOW, and savings accounts; other time deposits, such as daily money market accounts and longer-term certificates of deposit; and individual retirement and health savings accounts.

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