First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,600 shares, a growth of 259.2% from the November 30th total of 4,900 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 19,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.9 days.

Institutional Trading of First United

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in First United by 72.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 66,698 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 27,973 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in First United by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 23,713 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $708,000 after buying an additional 1,206 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in First United by 13.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 39,947 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 4,645 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in First United by 7.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 372,330 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,603,000 after acquiring an additional 24,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of First United by 14.3% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 82,195 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 10,280 shares during the last quarter. 33.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First United Trading Down 0.4 %

FUNC traded down $0.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $33.86. 18,744 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,740. First United has a 1 year low of $19.17 and a 1 year high of $36.49. The firm has a market cap of $219.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.76 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.10. First United had a net margin of 14.70% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The business had revenue of $28.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.30 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that First United will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

First United Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. First United’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised First United from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th.

First United Company Profile

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.