Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stake in First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 538,964 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,001 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in First Commonwealth Financial were worth $9,243,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 3.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,987,929 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $96,503,000 after acquiring an additional 233,955 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,673,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,107,000 after purchasing an additional 384,892 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 2.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,209,436 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,702,000 after purchasing an additional 33,759 shares during the period. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA raised its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 6.9% in the first quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA now owns 960,725 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,373,000 after buying an additional 61,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 4.3% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 296,524 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,128,000 after buying an additional 12,313 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, First Commonwealth Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.30.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael P. Mccuen bought 2,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were 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 in the company, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. 1.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of FCF opened at $18.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 0.83. First Commonwealth Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $12.41 and a 1 year high of $19.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

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

First Commonwealth Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.14%.

First Commonwealth Financial 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.