First Community Co. (NASDAQ:FCCO) Shares Sold by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC lowered its holdings in First Community Co. (NASDAQ:FCCO - Free Report) by 56.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,359 shares of the bank's stock after selling 12,332 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.12% of First Community worth $225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Community by 214.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,046 shares of the bank's stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 6,847 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in First Community in the third quarter worth $289,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in First Community by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,795 shares of the bank's stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in First Community by 48.1% in the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 39,985 shares of the bank's stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 12,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of First Community by 6.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 83,088 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 5,157 shares during the last quarter. 61.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of First Community from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James raised First Community from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $27.00 to $30.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group boosted 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 traded down $0.31 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $24.53. The company had a trading volume of 44,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 67,444. The firm has a market capitalization of $187.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.55 and a beta of 0.42. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $25.04 and a 200 day moving average of $23.64. First Community Co. has a fifty-two week low of $15.40 and a fifty-two week high of $27.96.

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that First Community Co. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

First Community Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. First Community's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.15%.

First Community Company Profile

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.