First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. Raymond James currently has $30.00 price target on the bank’s stock, up from their previous price target of $27.00.

First Community Stock Up 5.7 %

NASDAQ:FCCO opened at $25.97 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $198.41 million, a PE ratio of 15.37 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. First Community has a 52-week low of $15.40 and a 52-week high of $26.73.

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.06. First Community had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 9.57%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Community will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Community Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. First Community’s dividend payout ratio is 35.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC raised its stake in First Community by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 182,441 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,379,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Community by 48.1% in the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 39,985 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 12,985 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of First Community by 214.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,046 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 6,847 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Community by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 83,088 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,782,000 after buying an additional 5,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of First Community by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,795 shares of the bank’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the period. 61.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Community Company Profile

First Community Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Community Bank that provides various commercial and retail banking products and services to small-to-medium sized businesses, professionals, and individuals. The company operates through Commercial and Retail Banking, Mortgage Banking, and Investment Advisory and Non-Deposit segments.