First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Friday.

Separately, Raymond James raised shares of First Community from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th.

First Community Stock Performance

NASDAQ FCCO traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $16.00. 23,297 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,767. The company has a market cap of $122.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.43. First Community has a 12-month low of $15.40 and a 12-month high of $22.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.80 and a 200 day moving average of $17.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.34. The firm had revenue of $24.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.83 million. First Community had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 8.69%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Community will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of First Community

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FCCO. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of First Community by 31.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 51,604 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 12,340 shares during the last quarter. Fourthstone LLC grew its position in shares of First Community by 50.9% in the first quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 280,735 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,952,000 after purchasing an additional 94,705 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of First Community by 8.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,755 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of First Community by 1.1% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 409,357 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,678,000 after purchasing an additional 4,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of First Community by 314.7% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,833 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391 shares during the last quarter. 61.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About First Community

First Community Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Community Bank that provides various commercial and retail banking products and services to small-to-medium sized businesses, professionals, and individuals. The company operates through Commercial and Retail Banking, Mortgage Banking, and Investment Advisory and Non-Deposit segments.