State of Alaska Department of Revenue Boosts Stock Holdings in First Bancorp $FBNC

State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) by 7.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,642 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,732 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue owned about 0.06% of First Bancorp worth $1,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in First Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of First Bancorp by 1,412.9% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Bancorp by 33.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth about $128,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of First Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth about $243,000. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FBNC has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of First Bancorp from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of First Bancorp from $53.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of First Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Stephens increased their price target on First Bancorp from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Bancorp in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.67.

First Bancorp Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:FBNC opened at $52.31 on Monday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $52.84 and a 200-day moving average of $45.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.35 and a beta of 1.01. First Bancorp has a 52 week low of $34.50 and a 52 week high of $56.45.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.05. First Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.96% and a net margin of 17.65%.The company had revenue of $111.02 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.22 million. Analysts predict that First Bancorp will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

First Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.23 dividend. This is a positive change from First Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. First Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 39.32%.

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.