First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $24.25.

FCF has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 price target (up from $21.00) on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th.

First Commonwealth Financial Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE FCF opened at $21.30 on Friday. First Commonwealth Financial has a 12-month low of $15.00 and a 12-month high of $22.34. The company has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.39.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The bank reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $139.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $137.48 million. First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 10.79% and a net margin of 22.62%. Equities research analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Commonwealth Financial news, CFO James Reske sold 2,072 shares of First Commonwealth Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.25, for a total transaction of $44,030.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 73,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,552,525. The trade was a 2.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,216 shares of company stock worth $131,779. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 12.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 188,826 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,935,000 after purchasing an additional 21,108 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in First Commonwealth Financial by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 194,601 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,024,000 after buying an additional 25,310 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 60,483 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $940,000 after buying an additional 2,952 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 700.8% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 384,829 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,980,000 after buying an additional 336,775 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 242,968 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,776,000 after buying an additional 21,839 shares in the last quarter. 72.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About First Commonwealth Financial

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.