Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Acquires New Shares in First National Co. (NASDAQ:FXNC)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in shares of First National Co. (NASDAQ:FXNC) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,000.

Separately, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of First National by 5.2% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares during the period. 33.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First National Stock Performance

Shares of First National stock opened at $24.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $222.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $20.76 and its 200-day moving average is $17.81. First National Co. has a one year low of $14.50 and a one year high of $24.92.

First National (NASDAQ:FXNC) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.36. The firm had revenue of $20.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 million. First National had a return on equity of 6.52% and a net margin of 8.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. Equities analysts predict that First National Co. will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This is a boost from First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. First National’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FXNC shares. Hovde Group began coverage on First National in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of First National from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st.

First National Company Profile

First National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides various commercial banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, individuals, estates, local governmental entities, and non-profit organizations in Virginia. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and treasury management solutions.