First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) Short Interest Update

First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,500 shares, a growth of 63.2% from the January 31st total of 9,500 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 29,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First United

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of First United by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 77,761 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,621,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of First United by 194.4% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 742 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of First United by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 24,893 shares of the bank’s stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of First United by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 99,795 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,364,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of First United in the third quarter worth $97,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.27% of the company’s stock.

First United Stock Up 0.6 %

FUNC traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $35.79. 12,284 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 34,774. The company has a market cap of $231.53 million, a PE ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. First United has a one year low of $19.17 and a one year high of $42.50.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.09. First United had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 18.45%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that First United will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FUNC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James raised shares of First United from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of First United from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th.

First United Company Profile

First United Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First United Bank & Trust that provides various retail and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals. It offers various deposit products, which includes checking, savings, money market deposit, and regular and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), as well as certificates of deposit.