First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Short Interest Up 30.6% in February

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,410,000 shares, an increase of 30.6% from the February 13th total of 1,080,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 612,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCF has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $21.50 price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, First Commonwealth Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.58.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Performance

Shares of FCF stock traded up $0.25 on Monday, hitting $16.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 416,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 509,530. The company has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93. First Commonwealth Financial has a fifty-two week low of $12.41 and a fifty-two week high of $19.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $16.34 and its 200-day moving average is $17.06.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.35 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%. Equities research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 15.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,435,002 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $58,601,000 after buying an additional 456,119 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 927,453 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,693,000 after buying an additional 295,011 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,536,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,268,410 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $21,461,000 after buying an additional 210,876 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,483,405 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,099,000 after buying an additional 179,250 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

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.