Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Reduces Position in First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC decreased its stake in shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) by 95.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,660 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in First Bancorp were worth $26,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FBNC. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in First Bancorp by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,202,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,864,000 after buying an additional 418,752 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC increased its position in First Bancorp by 979.3% during the fourth quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 247,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,875,000 after buying an additional 224,419 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in First Bancorp by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,293,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,862,000 after buying an additional 77,074 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in First Bancorp by 220.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 104,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,351,000 after buying an additional 71,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in First Bancorp by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 486,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,403,000 after buying an additional 63,311 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FBNC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded First Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised First Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on First Bancorp from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Stephens lifted their price objective on First Bancorp from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on First Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.33.

First Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FBNC opened at $42.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. First Bancorp has a 52 week low of $29.53 and a 52 week high of $50.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.69.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. First Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.04% and a net margin of 14.19%. The firm had revenue of $105.79 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $105.81 million. Equities research analysts forecast that First Bancorp will post 3.27 EPS 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.