First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Short Interest Down 10.4% in October

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,030,000 shares, a decline of 10.4% from the October 15th total of 1,150,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 523,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 bought at an average cost of $16.99 per share, with a total value of $49,593.81. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now owns 57,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $979,014.77. This trade represents a 5.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 137.7% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 68,729 shares of the bank’s stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 39,811 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 296,524 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,128,000 after acquiring an additional 12,313 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in First Commonwealth Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $152,000. 72.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

First Commonwealth Financial Price Performance

FCF traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $18.45. The company had a trading volume of 115,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 516,647. First Commonwealth Financial has a twelve month low of $12.41 and a twelve month high of $19.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $121.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.47 million. First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 21.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. First Commonwealth Financial’s payout ratio is 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.