First Commonwealth Financial Value Stock - Dividend - Research Selection

Description of the company

Business

Overview

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (“First Commonwealth,” the “Company” or “we”) is a financial holding company that is headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania. We provide a diversified array of consumer and commercial banking services through our bank subsidiary, First Commonwealth Bank (“FCB” or the “Bank”). We also provide trust and wealth management services and offer insurance products through FCB and our other operating subsidiaries. At December 31, 2015, we had total assets of $6.6 billion, total loans of $4.7 billion, total deposits of $4.2 billion and shareholders’ equity of $719.5 million. Our principal executive office is located at 601 Philadelphia Street, Indiana, Pennsylvania 15701, and our telephone number is (724) 349-7220.

FCB is a Pennsylvania bank and trust company. At December 31, 2015, the Bank operated 110 community banking offices throughout western and central Pennsylvania, four community banking offices in Central Ohio, and loan production offices in Akron and Cleveland, Ohio. The largest concentration of our branch offices is located within the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area in Allegheny, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties, while our remaining offices are located in smaller cities, such as Altoona, Johnstown and Indiana, Pennsylvania, and in towns and villages throughout predominantly rural counties. The Bank also operates a network of 116 automated teller machines, or ATMs, at various branch offices and offsite locations. All of our ATMs are part of the NYCE and MasterCard/Cirrus networks, both of which operate nationwide. The Bank is a member of the Allpoint ATM network, which allows surcharge-free access to over 55,000 ATMs. The Bank is also a member of the “Freedom ATM Alliance,” which affords cardholders surcharge-free access to a network of over 670 ATMs in over 50 counties in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, West Virginia and Ohio.

Historical and Recent Developments

FCB began in 1934 as First National Bank of Indiana with initial capitalization of $255 thousand. First National Bank of Indiana changed its name to National Bank of the Commonwealth in 1971 and became a subsidiary of First Commonwealth in 1983.

Since the formation of the holding company in 1983, we have grown steadily through the acquisition of smaller banks and thrifts in our market area, including Deposit Bank in 1984, Dale National Bank and First National Bank of Leechburg in 1985, Citizens National Bank of Windber in 1986, Peoples Bank and Trust Company in 1990, Central Bank in 1992, Peoples Bank of Western Pennsylvania in 1993, and Unitas National Bank and Reliable Savings Bank in 1994. In 1995, we merged all of our banking subsidiaries (other than Reliable Savings Bank) into Deposit Bank and renamed the resulting institution “First Commonwealth Bank.” We then merged Reliable Savings Bank into FCB in 1997. We acquired Southwest Bank in 1998 and merged it into FCB in 2002.

We expanded our presence in the Pittsburgh market through the acquisitions of Pittsburgh Savings Bank (dba BankPittsburgh) in 2003, Great American Federal in 2004 and Laurel Savings Bank in 2006. These acquisitions added 27 branches in Allegheny and Butler Counties.

In recent years, we have primarily focused on organic growth, improving the reach of our franchise and the breadth of our product offering. As part of this strategy, we have opened fourteen de novo branches since 2005, all of which are in the greater Pittsburgh area. As a result of our prior acquisitions and de novo strategy, FCB operates 60 branches in the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area and currently ranks tenth in deposit market share.

In 2015, we entered central Ohio through the acquisition of First Community Bank with $102.8 million in assets and four branches in the Columbus area.

First Commonwealth regularly evaluates merger and acquisition opportunities and from time to time conducts due diligence activities related to possible transactions with other financial institutions and financial services companies. As a result, merger or acquisition discussions and, in some cases, negotiations, may take place and future merger acquisitions involving cash, debt or equity securities may occur. Acquisitions typically involve the payment of a premium over book and market values, and, therefore, some dilution of First Commonwealth’s tangible book value and net income per common share may occur in connection with any future transaction.