F.N.B. Co. (NYSE:FNB) Short Interest Up 7.1% in December

F.N.B. Co. (NYSE:FNB) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,790,000 shares, a growth of 7.1% from the December 15th total of 6,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,390,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FNB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price objective on F.N.B. from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of F.N.B. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Stephens raised their price target on shares of F.N.B. from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of F.N.B. in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on F.N.B. from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Vincent J. Delie, Jr. sold 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.50, for a total value of $2,062,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,652,229 shares in the company, valued at $27,261,778.50. This represents a 7.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of F.N.B.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in F.N.B. in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of F.N.B. during the third quarter worth $31,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in F.N.B. by 100.0% during the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,946 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in F.N.B. by 82.3% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,687 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of F.N.B. by 100.9% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,011 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,014 shares in the last quarter. 79.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F.N.B. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FNB traded up $0.28 on Monday, hitting $15.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,140,039 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,183,759. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $15.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.85. The company has a market capitalization of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93. F.N.B. has a 12 month low of $12.49 and a 12 month high of $17.70.

F.N.B. (NYSE:FNB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.02). F.N.B. had a net margin of 16.29% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The firm had revenue of $413.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $409.80 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that F.N.B. will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

F.N.B. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. F.N.B.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.04%.

F.N.B. Company Profile

F.N.B. Corporation, a bank and financial holding company, provides a range of financial products and services primarily to consumers, corporations, governments, and small- to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Community Banking, Wealth Management, and Insurance.