First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Short Interest Update

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,230,000 shares, an increase of 19.4% from the December 15th total of 1,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 520,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

First Commonwealth Financial Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:FCF traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.54. The company had a trading volume of 2,321,696 shares, compared to its average volume of 477,154. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $17.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.04. The company has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. First Commonwealth Financial has a one year low of $12.41 and a one year high of $19.96.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $121.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.47 million. First Commonwealth Financial had a net margin of 21.87% and a return on equity of 11.19%. The business’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.14%.

Institutional Trading of First Commonwealth Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCF. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 49,508 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $684,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in First Commonwealth Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,673,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,107,000 after purchasing an additional 384,892 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 291,757 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,987,929 shares of the bank’s stock worth $96,503,000 after acquiring an additional 233,955 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.70.

First Commonwealth Financial Company Profile

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides various consumer and commercial banking services in the United States. Its consumer services include personal checking accounts, interest-earning checking accounts, savings and health savings accounts, insured money market accounts, debit cards, investment certificates, fixed and variable rate certificates of deposit, mortgage loans, secured and unsecured installment loans, construction and real estate loans, safe deposit facilities, credit cards, credit lines with overdraft checking protection, IRA accounts, and automated teller machine (atm) services, as well as internet, mobile, and telephone banking services.