Banc Funds Co. LLC Decreases Stock Position in First National Co. (NASDAQ:FXNC)

Banc Funds Co. LLC decreased its position in shares of First National Co. (NASDAQ:FXNC) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 172,291 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,880 shares during the period. Banc Funds Co. LLC’s holdings in First National were worth $3,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in First National during the third quarter valued at approximately $88,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of First National by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 1,595 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of First National by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of First National by 41.3% in the third quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 35,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $642,000 after purchasing an additional 10,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fourthstone LLC increased its position in First National by 0.3% in the third quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 627,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,814 shares during the last quarter. 33.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First National Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ FXNC opened at $24.82 on Monday. First National Co. has a 1-year low of $14.50 and a 1-year high of $24.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The business’s 50 day moving average is $20.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.64 million, a P/E ratio of 22.16 and a beta of 0.49.

First National (NASDAQ:FXNC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36. First National had a return on equity of 6.52% and a net margin of 8.91%. The firm had revenue of $20.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that First National Co. will post 1.86 EPS for the current year.

First National Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. This is an increase from First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. First National’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of First National in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company.

First National Company Profile

First National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides various commercial banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, individuals, estates, local governmental entities, and non-profit organizations in Virginia. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and treasury management solutions.