First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Hovde Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $49.00 price target on shares of First United in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First United in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of First United from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.50.

First United Stock Performance

Shares of First United stock opened at $45.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $292.88 million, a PE ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.52. First United has a 52 week low of $33.54 and a 52 week high of $46.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $65.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.55 million. First United had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 20.05%. Equities analysts anticipate that First United will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other First United news, Director Irvin Robert Rudy sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.58, for a total value of $44,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 37,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,671,750. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Keith Sanders sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total value of $218,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 10,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $451,738.56. This represents a 32.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have bought 280 shares of company stock worth $12,816 and have sold 11,250 shares worth $500,752. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First United

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FUNC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of First United during the 2nd quarter valued at $20,125,000. De Lisle Partners LLP purchased a new position in First United in the 2nd quarter worth $7,277,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in First United by 349.9% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 140,586 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,220,000 after purchasing an additional 109,340 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in First United by 112.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 139,939 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,340,000 after purchasing an additional 74,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in First United by 1.2% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 101,118 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,718,000 after buying an additional 1,194 shares during the period. 33.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About First United

First United Corporation is a bank holding company that, through its subsidiary First United Bank & Trust, provides a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, businesses, and agricultural customers across central Oklahoma. The company offers deposit accounts such as checking, savings, money market and time deposits, alongside a variety of lending solutions covering commercial real estate, construction, agricultural and consumer loans.

In addition to traditional banking products, First United delivers treasury management and cash management solutions designed to streamline client operations, as well as online and mobile banking platforms for account access and payments.