First Community Co. (NASDAQ:FCCO) Announces $0.15 Quarterly Dividend

First Community Co. (NASDAQ:FCCO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the bank on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 4th.

First Community has raised its dividend by an average of 6.5% annually over the last three years. First Community has a payout ratio of 24.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect First Community to earn $2.08 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.8%.

First Community Stock Up 5.7 %

NASDAQ FCCO opened at $25.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. First Community has a 52 week low of $15.40 and a 52 week high of $26.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.44 million, a P/E ratio of 15.37 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $24.60 and a 200-day moving average of $22.64.

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.06. First Community had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that First Community will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James raised shares of First Community from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Thursday. Hovde Group raised their price target on First Community from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report 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.