American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 39,947 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,645 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in First United were worth $816,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in First United by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,136 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in First United during the first quarter valued at $111,000. Gendell Jeffrey L raised its position in shares of First United by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L now owns 167,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,943,000 after buying an additional 7,064 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new stake in First United during the first quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of First United by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 308,612 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,070,000 after acquiring an additional 10,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of First United from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at First United

In other news, Director Irvin Robert Rudy sold 2,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 37,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,018,240. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 188 shares of company stock worth $5,254. Corporate insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

First United Stock Performance

Shares of First United stock opened at $29.78 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85 and a beta of 0.79. First United Co. has a 12 month low of $15.68 and a 12 month high of $30.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $27.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.34 million. First United had a net margin of 13.84% and a return on equity of 11.78%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that First United Co. will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

First United Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. This is a positive change from First United’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. First United’s payout ratio is currently 40.93%.

First United Company Profile

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.