First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) Now Covered by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Investment analysts at Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $21.00 price target on the bank’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target points to a potential upside of 19.62% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on FCF. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.90.

First Commonwealth Financial Price Performance

Shares of First Commonwealth Financial stock opened at $17.56 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $16.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.57. First Commonwealth Financial has a fifty-two week low of $13.54 and a fifty-two week high of $18.28.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.02). First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 10.12% and a net margin of 20.00%.The company had revenue of $135.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $136.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. Analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, December 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to repurchase up to 1.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael P. Mccuen bought 3,090 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $16.19 per share, with a total value of $50,027.10. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president owned 62,111 shares in the company, valued at $1,005,577.09. This trade represents a 5.24% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO James R. Reske sold 1,965 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.52, for a total transaction of $32,461.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 82,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,360,967.16. This trade represents a 2.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,673 shares of company stock worth $93,275. 2.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in First Commonwealth Financial by 2,250.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,609 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 2,498 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 109.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,438 shares of the bank’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 2,321 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in First Commonwealth Financial in the third quarter worth $85,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 58.5% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,285 shares of the bank’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 10.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,724 shares of the bank’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 792 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

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.