Short Interest in First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Increases By 27.7%

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,980,000 shares, a growth of 27.7% from the March 15th total of 1,550,000 shares. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 795,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 22.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,190 shares of the bank’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 4,360 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 39.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 150,590 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,583,000 after buying an additional 42,632 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 121.8% in the 3rd 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. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 15,623 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCF has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $21.50 price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded First Commonwealth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.58.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Performance

Shares of First Commonwealth Financial stock traded down $0.18 on Monday, reaching $14.37. 166,915 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 606,884. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.34 and a beta of 0.72. First Commonwealth Financial has a 1-year low of $12.71 and a 1-year high of $19.96. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $15.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.72.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.01). First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 10.36% and a net margin of 20.38%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. First Commonwealth Financial’s payout ratio is currently 37.41%.

About First Commonwealth Financial

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.