Short Interest in First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Increases By 7.3%

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) was the target of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,620,000 shares, an increase of 7.3% from the August 15th total of 1,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 485,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial during the second quarter worth $180,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in First Commonwealth Financial by 173.9% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,086 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 2,594 shares during the period. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY lifted its position in First Commonwealth Financial by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 5,758 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in First Commonwealth Financial by 16.6% during the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 8,169 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in First Commonwealth Financial by 23.2% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,402 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. 66.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 7th.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE FCF traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $12.27. 109,309 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 657,027. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.01. First Commonwealth Financial has a one year low of $11.32 and a one year high of $16.53. The company has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 0.95.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. First Commonwealth Financial had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The firm had revenue of $155.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.91 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 4th were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 3rd. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.25%.

First Commonwealth Financial Company Profile

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.