Janney Montgomery Scott Upgrades First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) to Buy

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) was upgraded by Janney Montgomery Scott from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $30.00 price objective on the bank’s stock. Janney Montgomery Scott’s price target suggests a potential upside of 14.03% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Hovde Group lifted their price target on First Community from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James upgraded shares of First Community from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

First Community Stock Down 0.3 %

FCCO stock opened at $26.31 on Tuesday. First Community has a 52 week low of $15.40 and a 52 week high of $27.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $201.03 million, a P/E ratio of 14.54 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $24.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.17.

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.06. First Community had a return on equity of 10.14% and a net margin of 13.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that First Community will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of First Community

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCCO. Fourthstone LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Community by 28.9% during the third quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 400,225 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,581,000 after buying an additional 89,652 shares in the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC boosted its position in First Community by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 182,441 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,379,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in First Community by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 105,945 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,271,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in First Community by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 83,088 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 5,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Community by 48.1% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 39,985 shares of the bank’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 12,985 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.25% of the company’s stock.

About First Community

First Community Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Community Bank that provides various commercial and retail banking products and services to small-to-medium sized businesses, professionals, and individuals. The company operates through Commercial and Retail Banking, Mortgage Banking, and Investment Advisory and Non-Deposit segments.