First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) Short Interest Update

First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,500 shares, a growth of 63.2% from the January 31st total of 9,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 29,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.5 days. Approximately 0.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised First United from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Raymond James upgraded shares of First United from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of First United in the 3rd quarter worth about $97,000. Barclays PLC bought a new position in shares of First United in the 3rd quarter worth about $126,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new position in shares of First United in the 4th quarter valued at about $237,000. Finally, 683 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of First United during the 4th quarter valued at about $339,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.27% of the company’s stock.

First United Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:FUNC traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $35.16. 12,757 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,716. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.85. First United has a one year low of $19.17 and a one year high of $42.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.09. First United had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 18.45%. Sell-side analysts expect that First United will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.