AlphaQuest LLC Boosts Position in First Bancorp $FBNC

AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) by 1,293.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,110 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in First Bancorp were worth $243,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FBNC. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in First Bancorp by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 19,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $793,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of First Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at about $243,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of First Bancorp by 2.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 205,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,262,000 after buying an additional 5,409 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in First Bancorp by 28.9% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 16,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 3,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in First Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $1,335,000. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FBNC. Stephens increased their target price on First Bancorp from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of First Bancorp from $53.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of First Bancorp from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of First Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.67.

First Bancorp Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:FBNC opened at $48.54 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.17. First Bancorp has a 52 week low of $34.50 and a 52 week high of $56.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.39 and a beta of 1.01.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.08. First Bancorp had a net margin of 17.50% and a return on equity of 9.61%. The company had revenue of $89.61 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.47 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that First Bancorp will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.