Prudential Financial Inc. Acquires 4,400 Shares of Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI)

Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 187,448 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 4,400 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 1.21% of Financial Institutions worth $5,115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Financial Institutions by 666.8% in the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,583,625 shares of the bank’s stock worth $370,697,000 after acquiring an additional 11,812,109 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Financial Institutions by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 925,285 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,251,000 after purchasing an additional 106,612 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Financial Institutions by 38.1% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 424,825 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,593,000 after purchasing an additional 117,142 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Financial Institutions by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,685 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,036,000 after buying an additional 7,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Courier Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Financial Institutions by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 352,126 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,610,000 after buying an additional 1,887 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on FISI. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Financial Institutions in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Financial Institutions from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Financial Institutions in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Financial Institutions from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th.

Financial Institutions Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Financial Institutions stock opened at $24.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.14 and a 200 day moving average of $26.59. The company has a market capitalization of $501.15 million, a P/E ratio of -17.21 and a beta of 0.86. Financial Institutions, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.29 and a fifty-two week high of $29.79.

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.20). Financial Institutions had a positive return on equity of 11.12% and a negative net margin of 6.69%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Financial Institutions, Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Financial Institutions Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.97%. This is a boost from Financial Institutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Financial Institutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -85.52%.

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.