First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.06, Zacks reports. First Community had a net margin of 13.49% and a return on equity of 10.14%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share.

First Community Stock Up 5.7 %

NASDAQ FCCO opened at $25.97 on Friday. First Community has a 12 month low of $15.40 and a 12 month high of $26.73. The company has a market capitalization of $198.41 million, a P/E ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

First Community Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. First Community’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FCCO. Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of First Community from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James raised First Community from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Thursday.

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.