Short Interest in First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Grows By 7.9%

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,370,000 shares, a growth of 7.9% from the July 31st total of 1,270,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 572,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. 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 report on Thursday, July 25th. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded First Commonwealth Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, July 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on First Commonwealth Financial from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded First Commonwealth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Commonwealth Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCF. CWM LLC boosted its position in First Commonwealth Financial by 451.1% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in First Commonwealth Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in First Commonwealth Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in First Commonwealth Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in First Commonwealth Financial during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $152,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

First Commonwealth Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCF opened at $17.22 on Monday. First Commonwealth Financial has a twelve month low of $11.16 and a twelve month high of $19.01. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.26.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $118.34 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

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.