Short Interest in First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Grows By 19.4%

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,230,000 shares, a growth of 19.4% from the December 31st total of 1,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 520,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCF has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of 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. StockNews.com cut shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $21.50 price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Commonwealth Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.58.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 2.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,782,837 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,876,000 after acquiring an additional 105,116 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,435,002 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $58,601,000 after purchasing an additional 456,119 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 557,397 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,431,000 after purchasing an additional 18,433 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,437 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,611,000 after purchasing an additional 6,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 121.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 211,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,631,000 after buying an additional 116,295 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

First Commonwealth Financial Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE FCF traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $16.69. 876,602 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 643,971. First Commonwealth Financial has a 12 month low of $12.41 and a 12 month high of $19.96. The company has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.16.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.01). First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 10.43% and a net margin of 20.38%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.41%.

First Commonwealth Financial Company Profile

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.