First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the five analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.50.

A number of research firms recently commented on FCF. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on First Commonwealth Financial from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 25th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $16.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $74,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $789,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 63.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 28,394 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 11,040 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 286,934 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,430,000 after purchasing an additional 86,587 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 43,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 3,261 shares in the last quarter. 72.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First Commonwealth Financial Price Performance

FCF stock opened at $17.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $15.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92. First Commonwealth Financial has a 52-week low of $11.16 and a 52-week high of $19.01.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.01. First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 12.14% and a net margin of 23.39%. The business had revenue of $120.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.34 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. First Commonwealth Financial’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

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.