William Blair Investment Management LLC Has $35.06 Million Stake in First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC)

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 797,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,749 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in First Bancorp were worth $35,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FBNC. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Bancorp by 5.3% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 69,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,877,000 after acquiring an additional 3,484 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Bancorp during the third quarter worth $1,275,000. Princeton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in First Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $303,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in First Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $659,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in First Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $384,000. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FBNC. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of First Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of First Bancorp from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

First Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of FBNC opened at $40.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.46 and a 200-day moving average of $43.49. First Bancorp has a one year low of $29.53 and a one year high of $50.34. The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.04. First Bancorp had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 8.04%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that First Bancorp will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

First Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. First Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.83%.

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.