First Bancorp $FBNC Shares Sold by Greenwood Capital Associates LLC

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) by 19.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,988 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in First Bancorp were worth $359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of First Bancorp by 1,412.9% during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of First Bancorp by 33.5% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $128,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in First Bancorp in the first quarter worth $243,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Bancorp in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of First Bancorp from $53.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of First Bancorp from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of First Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of First Bancorp from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.67.

First Bancorp Stock Performance

FBNC stock opened at $52.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.35 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.59. First Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $34.50 and a fifty-two week high of $56.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $111.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.22 million. First Bancorp had a net margin of 17.65% and a return on equity of 8.96%. Sell-side analysts predict that First Bancorp will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, October 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This is an increase from First Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. First Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.32%.

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.