First Community Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCBC) Short Interest Update

First Community Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCBC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 145,600 shares, a growth of 5.3% from the May 31st total of 138,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 27,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.4 days. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCBC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in First Community Bankshares by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 965,956 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,838,000 after buying an additional 5,446 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Community Bankshares by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 916,310 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,732,000 after acquiring an additional 102,183 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in First Community Bankshares by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 132,477 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,901,000 after acquiring an additional 3,554 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in First Community Bankshares by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,379 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,572,000 after acquiring an additional 10,824 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in First Community Bankshares by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial Group Inc. now owns 38,442 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after acquiring an additional 990 shares during the period. 34.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on FCBC shares. StockNews.com upgraded First Community Bankshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Hovde Group began coverage on First Community Bankshares in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company.

First Community Bankshares Trading Down 1.5 %

First Community Bankshares stock opened at $36.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $662.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 0.53. First Community Bankshares has a 1-year low of $28.13 and a 1-year high of $39.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.34.

First Community Bankshares (NASDAQ:FCBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $40.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.72 million. First Community Bankshares had a net margin of 27.10% and a return on equity of 11.04%. On average, research analysts forecast that First Community Bankshares will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

First Community Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. First Community Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.80%.

About First Community Bankshares

First Community Bankshares, Inc operates as the financial holding company for First Community Bank that provides various banking products and services. It offers demand deposit accounts, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement plans; and commercial, consumer real estate, and consumer and other loans.