Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Trims Stake in First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership cut its stake in First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,009 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 12,041 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.36% of First Citizens BancShares worth $105,670,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in First Citizens BancShares by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 607 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 5 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 18 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 428 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $904,000 after buying an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management grew its stake in First Citizens BancShares by 60.0% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 16 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCNCA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup downgraded shares of First Citizens BancShares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $2,700.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on First Citizens BancShares from $2,535.00 to $2,200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $2,600.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of First Citizens BancShares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $2,250.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $2,288.08.

First Citizens BancShares Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of First Citizens BancShares stock opened at $1,880.07 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $2,032.66 and a 200 day moving average of $2,052.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.92, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.81. First Citizens BancShares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,518.00 and a fifty-two week high of $2,412.93.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The bank reported $45.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.32 by $5.78. First Citizens BancShares had a return on equity of 13.22% and a net margin of 18.55%. As a group, research analysts predict that First Citizens BancShares, Inc. will post 167.59 earnings per share for the current year.

First Citizens BancShares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $1.95 per share. This represents a $7.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. First Citizens BancShares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Craig L. Nix bought 17 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $1,881.13 per share, for a total transaction of $31,979.21. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,146,369.33. The trade was a 1.51 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 13.40% of the company’s stock.

First Citizens BancShares Company Profile

First Citizens BancShares, Inc operates as the holding company for First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company that provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and professionals. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, money market, and time deposit accounts.