First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) Raised to “Buy” at Janney Montgomery Scott

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

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on FCCO. Raymond James upgraded shares of First Community from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Hovde Group upped their price objective on First Community from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

First Community Price Performance

FCCO stock opened at $26.31 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $24.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.03 million, a P/E ratio of 14.54 and a beta of 0.42. First Community has a 1 year low of $15.40 and a 1 year high of $27.28.

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.06. First Community had a net margin of 13.49% and a return on equity of 10.14%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. Analysts anticipate that First Community will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Community

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Community in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Community by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 182,441 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,379,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC grew its position in 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 last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in First Community by 214.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,046 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 6,847 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Community by 6.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 83,088 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,782,000 after purchasing an additional 5,157 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.