First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) Short Interest Down 51.6% in February

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First United

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in First United by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 77,761 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,621,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in shares of First United by 194.4% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 742 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of First United by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 24,893 shares of the bank’s stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in First United by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 99,795 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,364,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in First United in the 3rd quarter valued at $97,000. Institutional investors own 33.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of First United from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded First United from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th.

First United Stock Performance

Shares of FUNC traded up $1.13 on Friday, reaching $30.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,753. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.50 million, a P/E ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 0.77. First United has a 12-month low of $19.17 and a 12-month high of $42.50.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.95 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts forecast that First United will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First United Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. First United’s payout ratio is presently 27.94%.

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.