First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) Stock Rating Upgraded by Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $42.00 price objective on the bank’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of First United from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

First United Price Performance

FUNC stock opened at $40.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $259.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $33.83 and a 200-day moving average of $31.45. First United has a 12-month low of $19.17 and a 12-month high of $40.63.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.09. First United had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 18.45%. As a group, equities analysts expect that First United will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First United Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. First United’s payout ratio is currently 27.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First United

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FUNC. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of First United in the third quarter valued at $97,000. Barclays PLC purchased a new position in First United in the 3rd quarter valued at about $126,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First United during the 3rd quarter worth about $202,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of First United during the third quarter worth about $460,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of First United by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 15,440 shares of the bank’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 3,683 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.27% of the company’s stock.

About First United

First United Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First United Bank & Trust that provides various retail and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals. It offers various deposit products, which includes checking, savings, money market deposit, and regular and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), as well as certificates of deposit.