First Interstate BancSystem, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIBK) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

First Interstate BancSystem, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIBK) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,190,000 shares, a decline of 16.1% from the September 15th total of 2,610,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 581,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Interstate BancSystem

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of First Interstate BancSystem by 16.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of First Interstate BancSystem by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in First Interstate BancSystem during the 2nd quarter valued at about $106,000. nVerses Capital LLC grew its position in First Interstate BancSystem by 412.5% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 4,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in First Interstate BancSystem in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $164,000. 88.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on FIBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on First Interstate BancSystem from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com cut First Interstate BancSystem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on First Interstate BancSystem from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of First Interstate BancSystem from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of First Interstate BancSystem from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.17.

First Interstate BancSystem Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FIBK traded up $0.86 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $32.50. 530,334 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 681,824. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $29.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.31. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61 and a beta of 0.81. First Interstate BancSystem has a 12-month low of $20.81 and a 12-month high of $33.00.

First Interstate BancSystem (NASDAQ:FIBK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.03. First Interstate BancSystem had a net margin of 17.22% and a return on equity of 8.19%. The firm had revenue of $244.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that First Interstate BancSystem will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Interstate BancSystem Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. First Interstate BancSystem’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.90%.

First Interstate BancSystem Company Profile

First Interstate BancSystem, Inc operates as the bank holding company for First Interstate Bank that provides range of banking products and services in the United States. It offers various traditional depository products, including checking, savings, and time deposits; and repurchase agreements primarily for commercial and municipal depositors.