First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) Stock Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC)’s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $25.16 and traded as high as $31.24. First United shares last traded at $31.10, with a volume of 24,669 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of First United from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th.

First United Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $29.84 and its 200-day moving average is $25.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.76 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.10. First United had a net margin of 14.70% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The firm had revenue of $28.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.30 million. On average, analysts predict that First United Co. will post 2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First United Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. This is a positive change from First United’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. First United’s payout ratio is presently 40.93%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First United

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of First United by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 372,330 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,603,000 after purchasing an additional 24,457 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First United by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 308,612 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,070,000 after purchasing an additional 10,800 shares during the last quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L boosted its stake in shares of First United by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L now owns 178,352 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,086,000 after purchasing an additional 10,648 shares during the last quarter. Huber Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First United by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Huber Capital Management LLC now owns 124,556 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,543,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of First United by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 82,195 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 10,280 shares during the last quarter. 33.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First United Company Profile

First United Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First United Bank & Trust that provides various retail and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals. It offers various deposit products, which includes checking, savings, money market deposit, and regular and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), as well as certificates of deposit.