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

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $19.75.

Several brokerages have issued reports on FCF. Raymond James Financial set a $20.00 target price on First Commonwealth Financial and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd.

First Commonwealth Financial Price Performance

Shares of FCF opened at $16.78 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.06. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 11.49 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. First Commonwealth Financial has a 1-year low of $13.54 and a 1-year high of $19.08.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $137.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $135.63 million. First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 10.43% and a net margin of 20.88%.First Commonwealth Financial’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.135 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. First Commonwealth Financial’s payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

First Commonwealth Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, December 1st that allows the company to buyback $25.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 1.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Commonwealth Financial

In other First Commonwealth Financial news, CFO James R. Reske sold 2,072 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.58, for a total transaction of $36,425.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 85,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,502,949.36. The trade was a 2.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jane Grebenc sold 18,598 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.85, for a total value of $350,572.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 158,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,996,678.75. This represents a 10.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 22,742 shares of company stock valued at $421,683 over the last 90 days. 2.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 2,250.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,609 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 2,498 shares in the last quarter. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new position in First Commonwealth Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,621 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $85,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 58.5% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,285 shares of the bank’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the period. 72.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.