First Carolina Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:FCBM) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

First Carolina Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:FCBM) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 176,522 shares, an increase of 108.9% from the September 15th total of 84,488 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 390,786 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.5 days. Currently, 0.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCBM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial started coverage on First Carolina Financial Services in a research note on Monday, July 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research raised First Carolina Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings started coverage on First Carolina Financial Services in a report on Monday, September 14th. They set a “sell (e)” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Carolina Financial Services to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Hovde Group assumed coverage on First Carolina Financial Services in a research note on Friday, July 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $14.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.50.

First Carolina Financial Services Stock Down 0.4%

FCBM stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $12.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 100,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 140,510. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $12.72. First Carolina Financial Services has a 12 month low of $12.17 and a 12 month high of $13.40. The stock has a market cap of $396.13 million and a P/E ratio of 63.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

First Carolina Financial Services (NYSE:FCBM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $32.26 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts expect that First Carolina Financial Services will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

First Carolina Financial Services Company Profile

First Carolina Financial Services, Inc is a bank holding company associated with First Carolina Bank, a community banking institution based in North Carolina. The company focuses on serving businesses, individuals and organizations through relationship-oriented banking services.

First Carolina Bank’s offerings include business and personal checking and savings accounts, commercial and consumer lending, mortgage-related financing, cash-management services, online and mobile banking, and other traditional banking products.