First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.70.

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler cut their target price on 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 538,964 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,243,000 after buying an additional 36,001 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 15.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,435,002 shares of the bank’s stock worth $58,601,000 after purchasing an additional 456,119 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 4.2% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 15,623 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 121.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 211,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,631,000 after buying an additional 116,295 shares in the last quarter. 72.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Performance

FCF opened at $16.92 on Thursday. First Commonwealth Financial has a twelve month low of $12.41 and a twelve month high of $19.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $17.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.77.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 21.87%. The company 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 firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.14%.

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.