First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) Upgraded at Raymond James

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

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

First United Trading Up 9.7 %

Shares of FUNC opened at $40.10 on Friday. First United has a 12-month low of $19.17 and a 12-month high of $40.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $259.45 million, a P/E ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.09. First United had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 12.51%. Sell-side analysts forecast that First United will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

First United Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First United

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of First United during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $97,000. Barclays PLC purchased a new position in shares of First United during the third quarter worth $126,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First United in the third quarter valued at $202,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of First United in the 3rd quarter valued at $460,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in First United by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 15,440 shares of the bank’s stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 3,683 shares in the last quarter. 33.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First United Company Profile

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.