First Bancorp (FBNC) Stock Price & How to Invest

First Bancorp (NASDAQ: FBNC) is the bank holding company for First Bank, a state-chartered community bank founded in 1935 and headquartered in Southern Pines, North Carolina. First Bank operates roughly 113 branches across North Carolina and South Carolina, offering commercial and consumer lending, deposits, treasury services, and SBA loans through a nationwide lender network. The company has grown to about $12.9 billion in total assets, partly through acquisitions such as Select Bancorp and GrandSouth Bancorporation, giving it a dense footprint in fast-growing Carolina markets.

As a regional bank, FBNC's earnings are driven by net interest income (the spread between what it earns on loans and securities and what it pays on deposits), fee income, and credit costs. Recent quarters show margin expansion, with net interest margin recovering to around 3.67% and quarterly earnings rebounding after a securities-repositioning loss dented late-2025 results. The investment picture is that of a conservatively run community bank: modest but consistent profitability, a regular dividend, and sensitivity to interest rates, Carolina economic conditions, and commercial real estate credit trends.

As a regional bank, FBNC is exposed to interest-rate swings that can compress net interest margin, and to commercial real estate and construction loan credit quality if the Carolina economy slows. Deposit competition can raise funding costs and pressure earnings. The late-2025 securities loss showed how balance-sheet repositioning can create earnings volatility. Acquisitions add integration and goodwill risk, and the stock trades at a valuation (roughly 20x earnings) that leaves limited room for disappointment. Broader regional-bank sentiment and regulation can also move the shares independent of company fundamentals.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see First Bancorp's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (net interest income + fees, TTM): ~$490M
• Net income (TTM): ~$110M
• Diluted EPS (TTM): ~$2.70
• Market cap: ~$2.5B
• P/E ratio: ~20x
• Dividend yield: ~1.6%

First Bancorp reported 2025 full-year net income near $111 million (about $2.68 diluted EPS), with Q1 2026 rebounding to about $46.7 million ($1.13 diluted EPS) after a securities-loss-depressed Q4 2025. At roughly a $2.5 billion market cap the stock trades near 20 times trailing earnings, broadly in line with well-run regional bank peers. The recent $0.24 quarterly dividend implies a yield of roughly 1.6%.

There are three common ways to get FBNC exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic basket, so FBNC sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the basket route. Describe a thesis where FBNC fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

FBNC is a steady Carolina community-bank story whose value hinges on margin trends, loan growth, and credit discipline rather than rapid expansion.

Whether FBNC is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is FBNC a buy?, and where the stock could go from here in the FBNC stock forecast.

For income investors, whether FBNC pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does FBNC pay a dividend?