First Community Co. (NASDAQ:FCCO) Shares Sold by Abacus Planning Group Inc.

Abacus Planning Group Inc. lessened its holdings in First Community Co. (NASDAQ:FCCO) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 45,271 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,345 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in First Community were worth $1,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FCCO. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in First Community in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $289,000. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its holdings in First Community by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 105,945 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,271,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the period. Fourthstone LLC increased its holdings in First Community by 28.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 400,225 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,581,000 after buying an additional 89,652 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in First Community by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,795 shares of the bank’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in First Community by 214.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,046 shares of the bank’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 6,847 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of First Community from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Hovde Group upped their price objective on First Community from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James upgraded First Community from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

First Community Trading Down 0.1 %

First Community stock opened at $26.81 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. First Community Co. has a 12 month low of $15.40 and a 12 month high of $27.96. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.51. The firm has a market cap of $204.83 million, a PE ratio of 14.81 and a beta of 0.42.

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.06. First Community had a return on equity of 10.14% and a net margin of 13.49%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Analysts anticipate that First Community Co. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

First Community Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. First Community’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.15%.

First Community Profile

First Community Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Community Bank that provides various commercial and retail banking products and services to small-to-medium sized businesses, professionals, and individuals. The company operates through Commercial and Retail Banking, Mortgage Banking, and Investment Advisory and Non-Deposit segments.