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

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

Separately, Raymond James raised shares of First United from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday.

First United Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FUNC opened at $40.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $260.64 million, a P/E ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.72. First United has a 52-week low of $19.17 and a 52-week high of $41.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.09. First United had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 12.51%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First United will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First United Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. First United’s payout ratio is 27.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FUNC. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of First United by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 24,893 shares of the bank’s stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in First United during the third quarter worth approximately $97,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of First United by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 15,440 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 3,683 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC purchased a new stake in shares of First United during the 3rd quarter valued at $126,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of First United by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 20,786 shares of the bank’s stock worth $701,000 after buying an additional 5,374 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.