First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 2,572.6% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,595 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in First Commonwealth Financial during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in First Commonwealth Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 92.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,830 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 1,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on FCF shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.70.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE FCF traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,321,696 shares, compared to its average volume of 477,154. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. First Commonwealth Financial has a twelve month low of $12.41 and a twelve month high of $19.96.

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

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

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

About First Commonwealth Financial

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.