First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

FCF has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.90.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Performance

Shares of FCF opened at $16.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. First Commonwealth Financial has a one year low of $13.54 and a one year high of $19.96. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 0.84.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The bank reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.04. First Commonwealth Financial had a net margin of 18.94% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The business had revenue of $131.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.88 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.135 per share. This represents a $0.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.54%.

Insider Activity

In other First Commonwealth Financial news, Director Todd D. Brice bought 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.09 per share, for a total transaction of $112,630.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 10,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $168,945. This trade represents a 200.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.17% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 23,857 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $404,000 after acquiring an additional 895 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $338,000. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 32,879 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 3,170 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 46.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 927,453 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,693,000 after acquiring an additional 295,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,536,000. 72.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Commonwealth Financial Company Profile

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.