Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Financial Institutions from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Financial Institutions Price Performance

FISI stock opened at $26.73 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $413.51 million, a PE ratio of 8.41 and a beta of 0.92. Financial Institutions has a one year low of $16.29 and a one year high of $29.14.

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.08. Financial Institutions had a return on equity of 11.32% and a net margin of 13.72%. The business had revenue of $50.12 million for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Financial Institutions will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Financial Institutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. Financial Institutions’s payout ratio is 37.74%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Financial Institutions by 408.0% during the 3rd quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,771,516 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,422,765 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Financial Institutions by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 784,928 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,772,000 after purchasing an additional 16,462 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Financial Institutions by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,685 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,036,000 after purchasing an additional 7,045 shares during the last quarter. Courier Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Financial Institutions by 2.4% in the third quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 350,239 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,921,000 after buying an additional 8,064 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Financial Institutions by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 332,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,424,000 after buying an additional 27,400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.45% of the company’s stock.

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.