First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Raymond James upgraded shares of First United from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

First United Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of First United stock opened at $31.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. First United has a 1-year low of $19.17 and a 1-year high of $42.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $29.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.93. The company has a market capitalization of $203.05 million, a P/E ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 0.59.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $20.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.63 million. First United had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 12.51%. As a group, research analysts forecast that First United will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

First United Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. First United’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.29%.

Institutional Trading of First United

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FUNC. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in First United by 67.4% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 26,035 shares of the bank’s stock worth $782,000 after acquiring an additional 10,483 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of First United by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 26,549 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $797,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of First United by 53.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 58,718 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,763,000 after purchasing an additional 20,387 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First United by 349.9% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 140,586 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,220,000 after purchasing an additional 109,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of First United by 187.4% in the 1st quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 11,246 shares of the bank’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 7,333 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.27% of the company’s stock.

About First United

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.