First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Community in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.00.

First Community Price Performance

First Community stock opened at $34.16 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $321.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 0.34. First Community has a 12-month low of $24.12 and a 12-month high of $35.74.

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.15. First Community had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 18.32%.The firm had revenue of $25.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.69 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that First Community will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Fred Joseph Deutsch sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.52, for a total value of $345,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 18,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $637,515.36. This represents a 35.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 8.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCCO. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in First Community by 40.6% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,962 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 3,454 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in First Community in the first quarter worth $594,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of First Community by 31.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 125,328 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,663,000 after purchasing an additional 29,967 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of First Community by 55.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 54,575 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 19,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of First Community by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 205,992 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,021,000 after buying an additional 20,970 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.25% of the company’s stock.

About First Community

First Community Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: FCCO) is the bank holding company for First Community Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Bluefield, West Virginia. Through its subsidiary, the company delivers a comprehensive range of financial services to individuals, small businesses and larger commercial clients. Its operations are focused on community banking, with an emphasis on personalized relationship management and local decision-making.

The company’s core offerings include deposit products such as checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit and money market accounts, as well as consumer and commercial lending solutions.