First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Short Interest Up 19.4% in December

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,230,000 shares, an increase of 19.4% from the December 15th total of 1,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 520,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FCF. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised First Commonwealth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on First Commonwealth Financial from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.70.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FCF. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 2,572.6% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,595 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in First Commonwealth Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 92.0% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,830 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial during the third quarter worth $72,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

First Commonwealth Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCF traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $16.54. 2,321,696 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 477,154. First Commonwealth Financial has a one year low of $12.41 and a one year high of $19.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $17.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 0.88.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 21.87%. The firm had revenue of $121.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. First Commonwealth Financial’s payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

First Commonwealth Financial Company Profile

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.