Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) Upgraded at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $34.00 target price on the bank’s stock, up from their prior target price of $29.00.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on FISI. Piper Sandler began coverage on Financial Institutions in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Financial Institutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Financial Institutions in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

Financial Institutions Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FISI opened at $27.88 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.06 and a 200 day moving average of $25.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $431.42 million, a P/E ratio of -19.23 and a beta of 0.90. Financial Institutions has a 12 month low of $16.29 and a 12 month high of $29.34.

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Financial Institutions will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Financial Institutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Financial Institutions’s payout ratio is currently -82.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert N. Latella bought 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.00 per share, with a total value of $100,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 16,000 shares in the company, valued at $400,000. This represents a 33.33 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Financial Institutions

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Financial Institutions by 666.8% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,583,625 shares of the bank’s stock worth $370,697,000 after purchasing an additional 11,812,109 shares during the period. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of Financial Institutions during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,140,000. Zacks Investment Management bought a new position in shares of Financial Institutions during the third quarter valued at about $4,706,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of Financial Institutions in the third quarter worth about $1,364,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Financial Institutions by 147.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 63,213 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 37,653 shares during the period. 60.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.