First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Hovde Group lifted their target price on shares of First Community from $36.00 to $37.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Community in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Community presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

First Community Stock Up 1.0%

FCCO opened at $34.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $326.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.95 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82. First Community has a fifty-two week low of $25.66 and a fifty-two week high of $35.74.

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $25.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.69 million. First Community had a return on equity of 13.23% and a net margin of 18.32%. On average, research analysts expect that First Community will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

First Community Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. This is a positive change from First Community’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 4th. First Community’s payout ratio is currently 25.37%.

Insider Activity at First Community

In other news, EVP Fred Joseph Deutsch sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.52, for a total transaction of $345,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 18,468 shares in the company, valued at $637,515.36. This trade represents a 35.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 8.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Community

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in First Community in the 1st quarter valued at about $8,430,000. Maltese Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Community by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Maltese Capital Management LLC now owns 252,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,487,000 after purchasing an additional 12,769 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of First Community by 11.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 205,992 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,021,000 after purchasing an additional 20,970 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in First Community by 115.5% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 195,527 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,411,000 after buying an additional 104,796 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in First Community by 103.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 174,732 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,260,000 after buying an additional 88,807 shares during the period. 61.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Community Company Profile

First Community Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: FCCO) is the bank holding company for First Community Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Bluefield, West Virginia. Through its subsidiary, the company delivers a comprehensive range of financial services to individuals, small businesses and larger commercial clients. Its operations are focused on community banking, with an emphasis on personalized relationship management and local decision-making.

The company’s core offerings include deposit products such as checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit and money market accounts, as well as consumer and commercial lending solutions.