First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.3333.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Commonwealth Financial news, EVP Norman J. Montgomery sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.34, for a total value of $458,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 63,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,156,667.12. The trade was a 28.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James R. Reske sold 2,072 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.93, for a total value of $39,222.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 79,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,500,694.68. This trade represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,430 shares of company stock valued at $908,796. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 20,253 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,621 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 17,801 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 94,031 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 300,680 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Performance

Shares of First Commonwealth Financial stock opened at $19.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.94 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $18.59 and its 200 day moving average is $17.80. First Commonwealth Financial has a 1 year low of $15.00 and a 1 year high of $19.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $133.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $134.32 million. First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 21.19%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This is a positive change from First Commonwealth Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.09%.

First Commonwealth Financial Company Profile

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation, headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a bank holding company whose primary subsidiary is First Commonwealth Bank. Established in 1889 as Indiana National Bank, the company has grown through a combination of organic expansion and strategic acquisitions to build a diversified platform of commercial banking, retail banking and wealth management services.

First Commonwealth offers a comprehensive suite of financial products, including deposit accounts, personal and business lending solutions, mortgage origination and servicing, treasury management, and trust and investment services.