First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.13 Per Share

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.13 per share by the bank on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. This is an increase from First Commonwealth Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13.

First Commonwealth Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 4.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 7 consecutive years. First Commonwealth Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 34.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect First Commonwealth Financial to earn $1.46 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.2%.

First Commonwealth Financial Price Performance

FCF opened at $13.73 on Thursday. First Commonwealth Financial has a twelve month low of $11.16 and a twelve month high of $15.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.61.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 12.89% and a net margin of 24.96%. The company had revenue of $116.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.80 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens dropped their price objective on First Commonwealth Financial from $16.50 to $15.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a report on Tuesday, April 9th.

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.