Royce & Associates LP Invests $678,000 in First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF)

Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 39,517 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $678,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 51,300 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $708,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 6.1% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,383 shares of the bank’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 6.3% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 20,434 shares of the bank’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 2,572.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,595 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 451.1% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on FCF shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Janney Montgomery Scott cut First Commonwealth Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.30.

First Commonwealth Financial Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of First Commonwealth Financial stock opened at $18.57 on Thursday. First Commonwealth Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $12.41 and a 12-month high of $19.50. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $17.24 and its 200-day moving average is $15.82. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 0.83.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $121.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.47 million. First Commonwealth Financial had a net margin of 21.87% and a return on equity of 11.19%. The business’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that First Commonwealth Financial Co. will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Commonwealth Financial

In related news, EVP Michael P. Mccuen acquired 2,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $16.99 per share, for a total transaction of $49,593.81. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,623 shares in the company, valued at approximately $979,014.77. This trade represents a 5.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.97% of the company’s stock.

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.