First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 7,500 shares, a decrease of 51.6% from the February 13th total of 15,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 28,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.3 days. Approximately 0.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FUNC. Raymond James raised shares of First United from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of First United from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th.

First United Trading Up 2.5 %

FUNC stock traded up $0.73 during trading on Friday, hitting $30.13. The company had a trading volume of 16,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,767. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.91 million, a P/E ratio of 9.57 and a beta of 0.77. First United has a 52-week low of $19.17 and a 52-week high of $42.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.05. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.95 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, research analysts forecast that First United will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First United Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. First United’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of First United by 194.4% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 742 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of First United in the 3rd quarter valued at about $97,000. Barclays PLC bought a new stake in shares of First United in the 3rd quarter valued at about $126,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD bought a new stake in shares of First United in the 4th quarter valued at about $237,000. Finally, 683 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of First United in the 4th quarter valued at about $339,000. Hedge funds and other 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.