Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.6667.

FISI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Financial Institutions in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Financial Institutions from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Financial Institutions in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered Financial Institutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Financial Institutions to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday.

Financial Institutions Price Performance

Shares of FISI opened at $32.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. Financial Institutions has a fifty-two week low of $20.97 and a fifty-two week high of $33.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.54. The company has a market capitalization of $644.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.38 and a beta of 0.72.

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The bank reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter. Financial Institutions had a positive return on equity of 11.10% and a negative net margin of 2.93%.The firm had revenue of $63.85 million during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Financial Institutions will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Financial Institutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Financial Institutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently -90.51%.

Financial Institutions declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, September 22nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to buy up to 0.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Financial Institutions

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Financial Institutions by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,031,395 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,744,000 after purchasing an additional 106,110 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Financial Institutions by 27.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 160,338 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,002,000 after acquiring an additional 35,015 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Financial Institutions in the 1st quarter valued at $1,179,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Financial Institutions during the 1st quarter worth $413,000. Finally, Cutler Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Financial Institutions by 2.8% during the first quarter. Cutler Capital Management LLC now owns 47,025 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.45% of the company’s stock.

About Financial Institutions

Financial Institutions, Inc (NASDAQ: FISI) is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company that seeks to provide tax-advantaged income to shareholders. The company invests primarily in investment-grade municipal obligations issued by states, municipalities and government agencies across the United States. By focusing on high-credit-quality bonds, Financial Institutions aims to deliver current income that is exempt from federal income tax.

In constructing its portfolio, the company may also utilize money market instruments and repurchase agreements to manage liquidity and facilitate efficient settlement.