First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $19.58.

FCF has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $21.50 price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,147,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $304,000. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 121.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 211,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,631,000 after purchasing an additional 116,295 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 64.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 34,892 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $598,000 after buying an additional 13,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 187.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 51,631 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $847,000 after buying an additional 33,666 shares during the last quarter. 72.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Down 2.6 %

First Commonwealth Financial stock opened at $14.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.92. First Commonwealth Financial has a fifty-two week low of $12.41 and a fifty-two week high of $19.96.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.01). First Commonwealth Financial had a net margin of 20.38% and a return on equity of 10.36%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.41%.

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.