Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 233,955 Shares of First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,987,929 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 233,955 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.07% of First Commonwealth Financial worth $96,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCF. CWM LLC raised its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 451.1% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial in the second quarter worth $34,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in First Commonwealth Financial during the second quarter valued at $51,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in First Commonwealth Financial in the first quarter valued at about $152,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new position in First Commonwealth Financial in the second quarter worth about $207,000. Institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Commonwealth Financial news, EVP Michael P. Mccuen purchased 2,919 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.99 per share, with a total value of $49,593.81. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now owns 57,623 shares in the company, valued at $979,014.77. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

First Commonwealth Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCF opened at $16.75 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 0.83. First Commonwealth Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $11.16 and a 1-year high of $19.01. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. First Commonwealth Financial had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 12.14%. The company had revenue of $120.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. First Commonwealth Financial’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial Co. will post 1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Commonwealth Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. First Commonwealth Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott lowered First Commonwealth Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Commonwealth Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.50.

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.