Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Positive Forecast for Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) Stock Price

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) had its target price increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $34.00 to $35.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Financial Institutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Financial Institutions in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.33.

Financial Institutions Stock Performance

Shares of FISI opened at $29.45 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $27.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.11. Financial Institutions has a 12-month low of $20.97 and a 12-month high of $29.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $592.83 million, a PE ratio of -21.50 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.11. Financial Institutions had a positive return on equity of 11.27% and a negative net margin of 2.93%.The firm had revenue of $63.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.46 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Financial Institutions will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Financial Institutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Financial Institutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -90.51%.

Financial Institutions declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 22nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 0.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Financial Institutions by 13.3% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,409 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Financial Institutions by 1,498.3% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,060 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 10,368 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Financial Institutions during the second quarter valued at $571,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Financial Institutions by 461.5% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,042 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 4,966 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Financial Institutions by 143.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 52,028 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,336,000 after acquiring an additional 30,700 shares during the period. 60.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Financial Institutions

Financial Institutions, Inc operates as a holding company for the Five Star Bank, a chartered bank that provides banking and financial services to individuals, municipalities, and businesses in New York. The company provides checking and savings account programs, including money market accounts, certificates of deposit, sweep investments, and individual retirement and other qualified plan accounts, as well as NOW accounts.