Short Interest in First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Drops By 10.4%

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,030,000 shares, a decline of 10.4% from the October 15th total of 1,150,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 523,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael P. Mccuen acquired 2,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.99 per share, with a total value of $49,593.81. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $979,014.77. This represents a 5.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 2,572.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,595 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 451.1% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in First Commonwealth Financial during the second quarter worth $51,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in First Commonwealth Financial during the third quarter valued at $72,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on FCF. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $16.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler cut 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, StockNews.com lowered shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.30.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:FCF traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $18.58. 241,252 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 516,964. First Commonwealth Financial has a twelve month low of $12.41 and a twelve month high of $19.50. The company has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 0.83. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $17.15 and a 200 day moving average of $15.76.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $121.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.47 million. First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 21.87%. The business’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. First Commonwealth Financial’s payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

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.