First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the five analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $17.30.

FCF has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $16.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael P. Mccuen acquired 2,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $16.99 per share, for a total transaction of $49,593.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $979,014.77. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FCF. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 38.0% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 81,530 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 22,444 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 137.7% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 68,729 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $957,000 after buying an additional 39,811 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 288.4% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 65,603 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $913,000 after buying an additional 48,714 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 1.0% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 89,097 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,240,000 after buying an additional 887 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 8.1% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 184,197 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,564,000 after buying an additional 13,837 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Performance

NYSE FCF opened at $16.59 on Wednesday. First Commonwealth Financial has a 1 year low of $12.30 and a 1 year high of $19.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 11.21 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.40.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $121.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.47 million. First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 21.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Analysts predict that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.14%.

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.