EMC Capital Management Raises Stock Position in First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF)

EMC Capital Management lifted its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) by 450.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,823 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 12,950 shares during the quarter. EMC Capital Management’s holdings in First Commonwealth Financial were worth $268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 4.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 15,623 shares of the bank’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 633 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 15,882 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,383 shares of the bank’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 2,572.6% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 92.0% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,830 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 1,835 shares during the last quarter. 72.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCF has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut First Commonwealth Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $21.50 target price on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Commonwealth Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.90.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Performance

Shares of FCF traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $16.56. 19,491 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 678,768. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.15. First Commonwealth Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $12.41 and a 52-week high of $19.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of 11.20 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.01). First Commonwealth Financial had a net margin of 21.87% and a return on equity of 11.19%. On average, equities research analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial Co. will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. First Commonwealth Financial’s payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

About First Commonwealth Financial

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.