First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Sunday morning.

Separately, Raymond James upgraded First United from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

First United Stock Performance

Shares of FUNC opened at $40.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82 and a beta of 0.81. First United has a 12 month low of $19.17 and a 12 month high of $42.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.09. 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 data 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 net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 12.51%. Research analysts forecast that First United will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First United Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. First United’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First United

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of First United by 5.4% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 23,713 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $708,000 after buying an additional 1,206 shares during the last quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP raised its stake in First United by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 120,838 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,619,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Fourthstone LLC raised its stake in First United by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 441,143 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,164,000 after acquiring an additional 101,915 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in First United during the 3rd quarter valued at $97,000. Finally, Barclays PLC bought a new position in First United during the third quarter worth $126,000. 33.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.