Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 6,460 Shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its holdings in shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC - Free Report) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,788 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 6,460 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned approximately 0.20% of First Bancorp worth $3,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of First Bancorp by 44.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 12,093 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 3,715 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of First Bancorp by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 22,775 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in First Bancorp by 52.2% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 35,579 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,564,000 after buying an additional 12,202 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in First Bancorp by 372.1% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 742,637 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,654,000 after buying an additional 585,338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in First Bancorp by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 443,923 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $19,519,000 after buying an additional 28,686 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stephens raised their price target on First Bancorp from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Janney Montgomery Scott cut First Bancorp from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on First Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on First Bancorp from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.33.

First Bancorp Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:FBNC traded down $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $40.94. The company had a trading volume of 45,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 184,053. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25 and a beta of 0.85. First Bancorp has a one year low of $29.53 and a one year high of $50.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $105.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $105.81 million. First Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.04% and a net margin of 14.19%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that First Bancorp will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

First Bancorp Company 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.