First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

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

First United Stock Down 2.2%

First United stock opened at $30.18 on Tuesday. First United has a twelve month low of $19.17 and a twelve month high of $42.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $195.54 million, a PE ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $29.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.91.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.09. First United had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 12.51%. The business had revenue of $20.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.63 million. On average, research analysts predict that First United will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First United Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. First United’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.29%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in First United by 194.4% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 742 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the period. Barclays PLC acquired a new stake in shares of First United in the third quarter worth $126,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new stake in shares of First United in the fourth quarter worth $237,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of First United during the 1st quarter worth $236,000. Finally, 683 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in First United in the 4th quarter valued at $339,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.27% of the company’s stock.

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.