First National Co. (NASDAQ:FXNC) Short Interest Update

First National Co. (NASDAQ:FXNC) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,100 shares, a decrease of 11.3% from the October 15th total of 8,000 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 7,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in First National during the third quarter worth about $88,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of First National by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of First National by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,595 shares in the last quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP increased its position in shares of First National by 41.3% during the third quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 35,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $642,000 after purchasing an additional 10,500 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of First National by 8.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 50,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $882,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on FXNC. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of First National from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Hovde Group started coverage on shares of First National in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock.

First National Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FXNC traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $23.53. 292 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,906. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $19.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.38. First National has a 1-year low of $14.50 and a 1-year high of $24.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

First National (NASDAQ:FXNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36. The company had revenue of $20.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 million. First National had a return on equity of 6.52% and a net margin of 8.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First National will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First National Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This is an increase from First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. First National’s dividend payout ratio is 53.57%.

First National Company Profile

First National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides various commercial banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, individuals, estates, local governmental entities, and non-profit organizations in Virginia. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and treasury management solutions.