First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA – Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $19.95 and last traded at $19.9220, with a volume of 66,314 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $19.39.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on FRBA shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded First Bank from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on First Bank from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on First Bank from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Hovde Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective (up from $18.00) on shares of First Bank in a report on Monday, July 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.67.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on First Bank

First Bank Trading Down 0.4%

The stock has a market cap of $483.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.05. First Bank had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The company had revenue of $38.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.70 million. Equities analysts forecast that First Bank will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This is a positive change from First Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 6th. First Bank’s payout ratio is 28.07%.

Institutional Trading of First Bank

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in First Bank during the second quarter worth about $12,836,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in First Bank by 2.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,032,116 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,514,000 after acquiring an additional 27,881 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in First Bank during the second quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of First Bank in the 2nd quarter valued at $243,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of First Bank by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 16,681 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576 shares during the last quarter. 64.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About First Bank

(Get Free Report)

First Bank (NASDAQ: FRBA) is a community-focused commercial bank headquartered in Hamilton, New Jersey. Founded in 2007, the bank provides banking services to businesses, individuals and organizations in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.

Its products and services include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, residential mortgage loans, consumer lending, checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, cash-management services and online banking. First Bank emphasizes relationship-based banking and serves small and mid-sized businesses, professionals, nonprofit organizations and individual customers.

First Bank operates a network of branches in central and southern New Jersey and the greater Philadelphia region.

Further Reading

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