First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) Short Interest Update

First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,500 shares, a decrease of 36.0% from the June 30th total of 21,100 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 25,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.5 days.

First United Trading Down 0.1 %

First United stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $27.66. 38,486 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,241. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. First United has a 12 month low of $15.68 and a 12 month high of $27.99. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87 and a beta of 0.79.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $27.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.34 million. First United had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Analysts forecast that First United will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

First United Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 18th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 18th. First United’s payout ratio is currently 37.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First United news, Director Irvin Robert Rudy sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.52, for a total transaction of $55,040.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 37,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,018,240. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have bought 309 shares of company stock worth $7,054 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of First United

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FUNC. AJOVista LLC acquired a new stake in First United in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Gendell Jeffrey L boosted its holdings in First United by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L now owns 167,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,943,000 after acquiring an additional 7,064 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in First United by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,136 shares of the bank’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 1,192 shares during the last quarter. PARK CIRCLE Co purchased a new position in First United during the 1st quarter worth $525,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in First United by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 308,612 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,070,000 after acquiring an additional 10,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of First United from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd.

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.