First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,000 shares, a decline of 32.4% from the March 15th total of 7,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 30,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.2 days. Currently, 0.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Trading of First United

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in First United by 194.4% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 742 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. Barclays PLC purchased a new stake in shares of First United during the 3rd quarter valued at $126,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD bought a new stake in First United during the fourth quarter worth about $237,000. 683 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in First United in the fourth quarter worth approximately $339,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of First United by 449.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,648 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 9,528 shares during the last quarter. 33.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of First United from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 29th. Raymond James raised shares of First United from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

First United Stock Down 0.2 %

First United stock opened at $28.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $181.24 million, a PE ratio of 8.89 and a beta of 0.58. First United has a fifty-two week low of $19.17 and a fifty-two week high of $42.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.97.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.09. First United had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 18.45%. Research analysts predict that First United will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First United Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. First United’s payout ratio is 27.94%.

About First United

First United Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First United Bank & Trust that provides various retail and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals. It offers various deposit products, which includes checking, savings, money market deposit, and regular and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), as well as certificates of deposit.