Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd Takes $472,000 Position in First Bancorp $FBNC

Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 10,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $472,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in First Bancorp by 1.0% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 836,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,592,000 after acquiring an additional 8,510 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Bancorp by 32.1% in the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 587,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,884,000 after purchasing an additional 142,765 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of First Bancorp by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 258,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,383,000 after purchasing an additional 15,570 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in First Bancorp by 27.3% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 131,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,263,000 after buying an additional 28,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC purchased a new position in First Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,046,000. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Bancorp Stock Down 0.4%

FBNC stock opened at $49.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of 20.59 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average of $50.77 and a 200-day moving average of $48.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. First Bancorp has a one year low of $34.50 and a one year high of $56.45.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FBNC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on First Bancorp from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of First Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of First Bancorp from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on First Bancorp from $53.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.67.

First Bancorp Profile

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.