First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday.

Separately, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective (down from $18.00) on shares of First Bank in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

First Bank Price Performance

Shares of FRBA opened at $15.28 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $299.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61 and a beta of 0.95. First Bank has a fifty-two week low of $11.20 and a fifty-two week high of $15.87. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.03. First Bank had a return on equity of 11.65% and a net margin of 18.19%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that First Bank will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

First Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. First Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FRBA. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of First Bank during the 3rd quarter worth $3,872,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in First Bank by 24.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 835,748 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,703,000 after buying an additional 161,761 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in First Bank during the third quarter worth about $1,159,000. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new position in First Bank in the third quarter valued at about $827,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of First Bank by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 834,690 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,633,000 after acquiring an additional 38,256 shares during the period. 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.