Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $35.3333.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Financial Institutions in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised Financial Institutions to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price objective (up from $34.00) on shares of Financial Institutions in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Financial Institutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Financial Institutions from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd.

Financial Institutions Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:FISI opened at $31.83 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $32.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $640.74 million, a PE ratio of 8.82 and a beta of 0.68. Financial Institutions has a 52 week low of $20.97 and a 52 week high of $35.47.

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The bank reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $64.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.99 million. Financial Institutions had a net margin of 19.81% and a return on equity of 12.75%. Analysts forecast that Financial Institutions will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Financial Institutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a boost from Financial Institutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Financial Institutions’s payout ratio is presently 34.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Financial Institutions

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Financial Institutions by 30.4% in the third quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,774,886 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,277,000 after purchasing an additional 413,376 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Financial Institutions by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 477,865 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,274,000 after purchasing an additional 27,770 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Financial Institutions by 412.7% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 53,366 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after buying an additional 42,957 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its stake in shares of Financial Institutions by 98.3% in the second quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 31,811 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $817,000 after buying an additional 15,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Financial Institutions by 94.6% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 459,798 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,507,000 after buying an additional 223,478 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.45% of the company’s stock.

Financial Institutions Company Profile

Financial Institutions, Inc (NASDAQ: FISI) is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company that seeks to provide tax-advantaged income to shareholders. The company invests primarily in investment-grade municipal obligations issued by states, municipalities and government agencies across the United States. By focusing on high-credit-quality bonds, Financial Institutions aims to deliver current income that is exempt from federal income tax.

In constructing its portfolio, the company may also utilize money market instruments and repurchase agreements to manage liquidity and facilitate efficient settlement.