First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) Stock Rating Lowered by Citigroup

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

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on First Citizens BancShares from $2,025.00 to $2,625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Citizens BancShares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated 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 target price for the company. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,150.00 to $2,000.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut First Citizens BancShares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $2,100.00 to $2,500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2,243.64.

First Citizens BancShares Stock Performance

Shares of FCNCA opened at $2,070.94 on Tuesday. First Citizens BancShares has a one year low of $1,363.97 and a one year high of $2,388.78. The company has a 50-day moving average of $2,122.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $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. The stock has a market cap of $28.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 0.83.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $45.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $47.40 by ($1.53). The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. First Citizens BancShares had a net margin of 17.36% and a return on equity of 13.63%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $55.92 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that First Citizens BancShares will post 187.88 earnings per share for the current year.

First Citizens BancShares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $1.95 per share. This is a positive change 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 4.47%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Citizens BancShares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in First Citizens BancShares by 3,577.5% during the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 35,010 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $58,943,000 after acquiring an additional 34,058 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in First Citizens BancShares by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 323,532 shares of the bank’s stock worth $595,607,000 after buying an additional 33,713 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its holdings in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 225.2% during the second quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 42,159 shares of the bank’s stock worth $70,979,000 after buying an additional 29,194 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 183,992.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 23,932 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $440,580,000 after acquiring an additional 23,919 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 6,773.9% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 23,921 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,274,000 after acquiring an additional 23,573 shares during the period. 78.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.