Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Increases First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) Price Target to $53.00

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $50.00 to $53.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.61% from the stock's previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of First Bancorp from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of First Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Bancorp has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $52.67.

First Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of FBNC traded up $1.52 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $51.65. The stock had a trading volume of 587,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 204,891. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 22.07 and a beta of 0.87. First Bancorp has a one year low of $34.50 and a one year high of $52.00.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $111.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $109.22 million. First Bancorp had a net margin of 17.65% and a return on equity of 8.96%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Bancorp will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in First Bancorp by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,345 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of First Bancorp by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of First Bancorp by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 74,336 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,984,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of First Bancorp by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,843 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in shares of First Bancorp by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 19,759 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $793,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.