First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) Cut to “Hold” at Citigroup

Citigroup downgraded shares of First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of First Citizens BancShares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $2,700.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $2,600.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on First Citizens BancShares from $2,550.00 to $2,300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded First Citizens BancShares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $2,100.00 to $2,500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Citizens BancShares has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $2,243.64.

First Citizens BancShares Stock Performance

FCNCA opened at $2,070.94 on Tuesday. First Citizens BancShares has a 1-year low of $1,363.97 and a 1-year high of $2,388.78. The stock has a market cap of $28.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $2,122.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,948.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $45.87 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $47.40 by ($1.53). First Citizens BancShares had a net margin of 17.36% and a return on equity of 13.63%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $55.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that First Citizens BancShares will post 187.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Citizens BancShares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $1.95 dividend. This is a boost from First Citizens BancShares’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.64. This represents a $7.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. First Citizens BancShares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.47%.

Institutional Trading of First Citizens BancShares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in First Citizens BancShares by 1,005.0% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 221 shares of the bank’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 625 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 67.3% in the 2nd quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the bank’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. acquired a new stake in First Citizens BancShares during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,014,000. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in First Citizens BancShares by 3.9% during the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 187 shares of the bank’s stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. 78.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About First Citizens BancShares

First Citizens BancShares, Inc operates as the holding company for First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company that provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and professionals. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, money market, and time deposit accounts.