StockNews.com Downgrades First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) to Sell

StockNews.com lowered shares of First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.

FCF has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on First Commonwealth Financial from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $21.50 price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.90.

First Commonwealth Financial Trading Down 3.8 %

FCF opened at $16.19 on Wednesday. First Commonwealth Financial has a one year low of $12.41 and a one year high of $19.96. The company has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.15.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.01). First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 21.87%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. First Commonwealth Financial’s payout ratio is 35.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 2.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,782,837 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,876,000 after purchasing an additional 105,116 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 121.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 211,797 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,631,000 after purchasing an additional 116,295 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP purchased a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the third quarter valued at $678,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 64.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 34,892 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $598,000 after purchasing an additional 13,643 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 7.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 538,964 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,243,000 after purchasing an additional 36,001 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

About First Commonwealth Financial

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides various consumer and commercial banking services in the United States. Its consumer services include personal checking accounts, interest-earning checking accounts, savings and health savings accounts, insured money market accounts, debit cards, investment certificates, fixed and variable rate certificates of deposit, mortgage loans, secured and unsecured installment loans, construction and real estate loans, safe deposit facilities, credit cards, credit lines with overdraft checking protection, IRA accounts, and automated teller machine (atm) services, as well as internet, mobile, and telephone banking services.