Brokerages Set First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Price Target at $17.50

Shares of First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.50.

A number of analysts have recently commented on FCF shares. Janney Montgomery Scott cut First Commonwealth Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $16.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com cut First Commonwealth Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on First Commonwealth Financial from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on First Commonwealth Financial from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of FCF stock opened at $17.57 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $16.66 and a 200 day moving average of $15.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 0.83. First Commonwealth Financial has a twelve month low of $11.16 and a twelve month high of $19.01.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $120.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.34 million. First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 12.14% and a net margin of 23.39%. First Commonwealth Financial’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.44 EPS for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. First Commonwealth Financial’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Michael P. Mccuen purchased 2,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.99 per share, for a total transaction of $49,593.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $979,014.77. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCF. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in First Commonwealth Financial during the first quarter worth $407,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 38.0% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 81,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,074,000 after buying an additional 22,444 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 137.7% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 68,729 shares of the bank’s stock worth $957,000 after buying an additional 39,811 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 288.4% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 65,603 shares of the bank’s stock worth $913,000 after buying an additional 48,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 1.0% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 89,097 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,240,000 after buying an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

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.