In recent news, FirstAtlantic Financial Holdings (OTCQX: FFHD) or First Atlantic Bank has experienced an uptick in volume. FFHD is a fully reporting holding company for FirstAtlantic Bank, a full service community bank headquartered in Jacksonville, FL. According to their reports, they have $436M in assets, and eight “financial centers” located in eastern Florida. The banking unit has a 5-Star rating from Bauer Financial, Inc. which they claim is the nation’s leading bank rating firm, and a 3-Star rating from Morningstar.
There are a few reasons for this volume increase and we’ll get into them in sufficient detail to give the casual investor a likely plan of action. First off, just a few days ago on Ausust 16, 2017 FirstAtlantic Financial Holdings (FFHD) announced a merger with the National Bank of Commerce (NBC) a Delaware corporation headquartered in Alabama. The announcement states that FFHD will continue to operate (and trade) under its own name after the merger is finalized, but the combined institution will reportedly boast approximately $3.1Bn in assets. The parent company of NBC, National Commerce Corporation (NCOM) is listed on NASDAQ.
Prior to the merger FFHD stock was trading from $10.40 to $16.85 and according to the terms of the agreement, every share of FFHD stock issued or outstanding prior to the merger will be converted into 0.44 shares of NCC common stock – or – be purchased for $17.25 in cash with a few details pertaining to NCC’s stake in the merger and the effect on outstanding purchase options left to be ironed out in the form of option cancellation and payment of an amount equal to the difference between $17.25 and the option exercise price. For those interested, NCC’s stock has traded between $35.00 and $40.45 through the past three quarters.
NCC has filed a registration statement form S-4 with the SEC to register shares of NCC common stock to be issued to shareholders of FirstAtlantic but FFHD will continue to be operated, managed and traded under its own name for the foreseeable future.
The other reasons for the recent uptick include a positive earnings report issued in August and the hire of a new Assistant Vice President.
As mentioned previously, FFHD has seen a recent spike in volume. It currently sits at about 95,700, but the 52-week average is still only 7,095. Price as of August 18, a few days after the merger announcement is at $16.76, which is a sharp spike over the previous year, with the price going from around $10 in August of 2016 up to $13.60 a week before the merger.
If you’re interested in detailed financial reports and news, these items are available at the company’s website: https://www.firstatlantic.bank/About-Us/Investor-Relations.
Based on our analysis, this one is likely to retract just a bit over the next week or so, but a continued steady growth curve topping out at up to $25 within a year or so is definitely not out of the question. Of course, anything could happen including another spike resulting from positive news or greater publicity.
