** Piper Sandler assumes coverage of financial services company Farmers National Banc with "neutral" rating
** Brokerage says FMNB is positioned favorably for Fed easing cycle
** Expects modest expansion of FMNB's net interest margin $(NIM)$ through 2025
** NIM is a key profitability metric that measures how much a bank earns as interest on loans and pays out on deposits
** Piper Sandler says FMNB's diversified fee businesses including wealth management, insurance agency and retirement plan consulting to drive strong fee growth
** Brokerage sets PT at $17, a ~12% upside on stock's last close
** One of 3 brokerages rate the stock "buy", 2 "hold"; their median PT is $17 - LSEG data
** As of last close, stock up ~4.8% YTD
(Reporting by Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru)
((Prakhar.srivastava2@thomsonreuters.com))