First Mid Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMBH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• First Mid Bancshares, Inc. received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from six analysts, with an average 12-month price target of $43.33.
• CEO Clay M. Dean sold 1,553 shares at an average price of $37.64, representing a decrease in his ownership by 12.15%.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.24 to $0.25, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.5%.

Shares of First Mid Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMBH - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.3333.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Mid Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of First Mid Bancshares from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of First Mid Bancshares from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th.

First Mid Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FMBH traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $40.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 96,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 64,476. The business's fifty day moving average is $38.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. First Mid Bancshares has a 1 year low of $27.58 and a 1 year high of $43.86. The stock has a market cap of $962.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.40 and a beta of 0.91.

First Mid Bancshares (NASDAQ:FMBH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.08. First Mid Bancshares had a net margin of 18.32% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The business had revenue of $88.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.42 million. Analysts anticipate that First Mid Bancshares will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Mid Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from First Mid Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. First Mid Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is 28.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Clay M. Dean sold 1,553 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.64, for a total value of $58,454.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,229 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $422,659.56. This trade represents a 12.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of First Mid Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FMBH. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in First Mid Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $488,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in First Mid Bancshares by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,959 shares of the bank's stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in First Mid Bancshares by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,884 shares of the bank's stock valued at $328,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in First Mid Bancshares by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 221,975 shares of the bank's stock valued at $8,173,000 after acquiring an additional 10,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in First Mid Bancshares by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 27,531 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,014,000 after acquiring an additional 6,120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.57% of the company's stock.

About First Mid Bancshares

First Mid Bancshares, Inc, a financial holding company, provides community banking products and services to commercial, retail, and agricultural customers in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, such as demand deposits, savings accounts, money market deposits, and time deposits. The company's loan products include commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, agricultural and agricultural real estate, residential real estate, and consumer loans, as well as construction and land development, 1-4 family residential properties, and multifamily residential properties loans; and other loans comprising loans to municipalities to support community projects, such as infrastructure improvements or equipment purchases.