ProShare Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Financial Institutions, Inc. $FISI

ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 236,320 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $6,069,000. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 1.17% of Financial Institutions at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Financial Institutions during the 1st quarter valued at about $205,000. CWM LLC raised its position in Financial Institutions by 8.1% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,222 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Financial Institutions by 24.2% in the first quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 9,375 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in Financial Institutions by 31.9% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 11,085 shares of the bank’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 2,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Financial Institutions by 30.0% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 11,333 shares of the bank’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 2,617 shares during the last quarter. 60.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FISI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Financial Institutions from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Financial Institutions from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Financial Institutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.33.

Financial Institutions Stock Down 0.4%

Financial Institutions stock opened at $29.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Financial Institutions, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.97 and a fifty-two week high of $30.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.68. The firm has a market cap of $593.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.51 and a beta of 0.76.

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.11. Financial Institutions had a positive return on equity of 11.27% and a negative net margin of 2.93%.The company had revenue of $64.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.46 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Financial Institutions, Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Financial Institutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Financial Institutions’s payout ratio is currently -90.51%.

Financial Institutions 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.