Principal Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 26,320 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $846,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.08% of First Bancshares as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in First Bancshares by 72.7% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 62,984 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,634,000 after buying an additional 26,514 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new position in First Bancshares in the first quarter valued at about $895,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in First Bancshares by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,626,074 shares of the bank's stock valued at $42,197,000 after buying an additional 59,471 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in First Bancshares by 16.3% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 119,512 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,105,000 after buying an additional 16,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. purchased a new position in First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at about $4,548,000. 69.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Hovde Group increased their target price on shares of First Bancshares from $29.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of First Bancshares from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of First Bancshares from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $31.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of First Bancshares in a research report on Thursday. They issued a "sell" rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, First Bancshares presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $35.50.

First Bancshares Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ FBMS traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $37.65. 130,908 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 135,059. The First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.96 and a 1-year high of $38.21. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $33.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84.

First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. First Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.25%.

First Bancshares 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.