F.N.B. Corporation (NYSE:FNB) Short Interest Up 17.9% in March

F.N.B. Corporation (NYSE:FNB) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 17,669,683 shares, an increase of 17.9% from the February 26th total of 14,985,739 shares. Currently, 5.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,362,436 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

F.N.B. Stock Performance

Shares of FNB traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $17.00. 5,261,793 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,390,031. The stock has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.76. F.N.B. has a 1 year low of $10.88 and a 1 year high of $19.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.92.

F.N.B. (NYSE:FNB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.09. F.N.B. had a net margin of 20.98% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company had revenue of $457.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $457.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that F.N.B. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

F.N.B. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. F.N.B.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.77%.

Institutional Trading of F.N.B.

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in F.N.B. by 11.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 274,466 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,692,000 after purchasing an additional 28,570 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of F.N.B. by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 153,039 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,058,000 after purchasing an additional 29,248 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of F.N.B. by 77.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,513,248 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,353,000 after purchasing an additional 660,387 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of F.N.B. by 5.9% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,049,241 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,112,000 after buying an additional 58,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of F.N.B. by 3.6% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 123,771 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,805,000 after buying an additional 4,299 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FNB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $21.00 target price (up from $20.00) on shares of F.N.B. in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of F.N.B. in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on F.N.B. from $19.00 to $19.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $19.60.

F.N.B. Company Profile

F.N.B. Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Through its principal subsidiary, FNB Bank, the company provides a broad range of commercial and consumer financial services. Founded in 1864 as the First National Bank of Pennsylvania, F.N.B. has grown through both organic expansion and strategic acquisitions to become a regional banking franchise.

The company’s main business activities include traditional deposit-taking and lending services, such as checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lines of credit, and consumer and commercial loans.