Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 4,255 Shares of First Bancorp $FBNC

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its position in First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 345,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,255 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.83% of First Bancorp worth $15,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in First Bancorp in the first quarter worth $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of First Bancorp by 1,412.9% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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 worth $84,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of First Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth about $236,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in First Bancorp by 1,293.7% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 5,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 5,110 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on FBNC shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of First Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut First Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on First Bancorp from $53.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on First Bancorp from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.67.

First Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of FBNC opened at $48.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.25 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.10. First Bancorp has a 12 month low of $34.50 and a 12 month high of $56.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.08. First Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.61% and a net margin of 17.50%.The company had revenue of $89.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $113.47 million. Research analysts anticipate 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.