First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $21.50 price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.90.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Performance

Shares of FCF stock traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $16.19. The stock had a trading volume of 907,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 715,469. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 0.88. First Commonwealth Financial has a twelve month low of $12.41 and a twelve month high of $19.96.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.01). First Commonwealth Financial had a net margin of 21.87% and a return on equity of 11.19%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FCF. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,782,837 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,876,000 after purchasing an additional 105,116 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 15.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,435,002 shares of the bank’s stock worth $58,601,000 after buying an additional 456,119 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 7.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 538,964 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,243,000 after buying an additional 36,001 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in First Commonwealth Financial by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,437 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,611,000 after buying an additional 6,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 121.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 211,797 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,631,000 after buying an additional 116,295 shares in the last quarter. 72.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.