First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Saturday.

FBNC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of First Bancorp from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of First Bancorp from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Zacks Research raised shares of First Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on First Bancorp from $53.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.67.

First Bancorp Price Performance

First Bancorp stock opened at $48.19 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 20.25 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $51.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.10. First Bancorp has a one year low of $34.50 and a one year high of $56.45.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.08. First Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.61% and a net margin of 17.50%.The firm had revenue of $89.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.47 million. As a group, research analysts expect that First Bancorp will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $243,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in First Bancorp by 28.9% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 16,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $662,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancorp during the first quarter valued at about $1,335,000. one8zero8 LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Bancorp by 27.1% during the first quarter. one8zero8 LLC now owns 14,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 2,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $3,846,000. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About First Bancorp

First Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides banking products and services for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. The company accepts deposit products, such as checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts.