Short Interest in First Community Corporation (NASDAQ:FCCO) Expands By 184.3%

First Community Corporation (NASDAQ:FCCO) saw a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 174,848 shares, a growth of 184.3% from the June 15th total of 61,511 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 147,140 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.2 days. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Community

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCCO. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Community during the first quarter worth approximately $8,430,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Community by 115.5% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 195,527 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,411,000 after purchasing an additional 104,796 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Community by 103.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 174,732 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,260,000 after purchasing an additional 88,807 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Community by 199.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 90,919 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,051,000 after purchasing an additional 60,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Community by 31.4% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 125,328 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,663,000 after purchasing an additional 29,967 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Community in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.00.

First Community Price Performance

First Community stock traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $32.68. 9,683 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 80,759. 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 one year low of $24.12 and a one year high of $34.01. The stock has a market cap of $307.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 0.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.17.

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.08. First Community had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 13.00%. The firm had revenue of $23.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.61 million. On average, equities analysts predict that First Community will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Community Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. First Community’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.10%.

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.