StockNews.com Downgrades Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) to Sell

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Monday.

FISI has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Financial Institutions in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Financial Institutions in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Financial Institutions from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday.

Financial Institutions Price Performance

FISI opened at $27.63 on Monday. Financial Institutions has a fifty-two week low of $16.29 and a fifty-two week high of $29.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.04 and a 200 day moving average of $25.90. 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 firm has a market cap of $427.44 million, a P/E ratio of -19.06 and a beta of 0.90.

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.20). Financial Institutions had a negative net margin of 6.69% and a positive return on equity of 11.12%. On average, research analysts expect that Financial Institutions will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert N. Latella acquired 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.00 per share, for a total transaction of $100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $400,000. The trade was a 33.33 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Financial Institutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Financial Institutions by 666.8% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,583,625 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $370,697,000 after acquiring an additional 11,812,109 shares in the last quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of Financial Institutions in the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,140,000. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new stake in Financial Institutions in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,706,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in Financial Institutions during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,364,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Financial Institutions by 147.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 63,213 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 37,653 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.45% of the company’s stock.

Financial Institutions Company Profile

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.