First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCFGet Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.3333.

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a report on Tuesday, May 19th.

Get Our Latest Report on FCF

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO James R. Reske sold 2,072 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $42,476.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 77,204 shares in the company, valued at $1,582,682. The trade was a 2.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Michael P. Mccuen sold 5,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.58, for a total value of $97,545.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 56,861 shares in the company, valued at $1,056,477.38. The trade was a 8.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,430 shares of company stock worth $914,266. 1.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in First Commonwealth Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $15,685,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 112.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,091,740 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,614,000 after purchasing an additional 578,893 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in First Commonwealth Financial by 95.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 559,989 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,845,000 after buying an additional 273,351 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,854,021 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,839,000 after purchasing an additional 216,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 453.3% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 215,591 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,790,000 after buying an additional 176,626 shares in the last quarter. 72.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of First Commonwealth Financial stock opened at $20.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.76 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $19.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.55. First Commonwealth Financial has a 1 year low of $15.00 and a 1 year high of $21.41.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCFGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.03). First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 21.19%.The business had revenue of $133.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $134.32 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. First Commonwealth Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This is an increase from First Commonwealth Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.09%.

First Commonwealth Financial Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation, headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a bank holding company whose primary subsidiary is First Commonwealth Bank. Established in 1889 as Indiana National Bank, the company has grown through a combination of organic expansion and strategic acquisitions to build a diversified platform of commercial banking, retail banking and wealth management services.

First Commonwealth offers a comprehensive suite of financial products, including deposit accounts, personal and business lending solutions, mortgage origination and servicing, treasury management, and trust and investment services.

Further Reading

Analyst Recommendations for First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF)

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