First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) Raised to Hold at Wall Street Zen

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,300.00 to $2,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,456.00 to $2,346.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised First Citizens BancShares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $2,100.00 to $2,200.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $2,238.27.

First Citizens BancShares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FCNCA opened at $1,898.15 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $2,102.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,956.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. First Citizens BancShares has a 52-week low of $1,473.62 and a 52-week high of $2,232.21.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The bank reported $51.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $44.24 by $7.03. The business had revenue of $2.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. First Citizens BancShares had a return on equity of 11.18% and a net margin of 15.21%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that First Citizens BancShares will post 167.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 13,215 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,362,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. MidFirst Bank bought a new stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $339,000. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in First Citizens BancShares by 574.0% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 55,402 shares of the bank’s stock worth $118,903,000 after buying an additional 47,182 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in First Citizens BancShares by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,073,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in First Citizens BancShares by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 23,497 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,429,000 after acquiring an additional 3,820 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.01% of the company’s stock.

First Citizens BancShares Company Profile

First Citizens BancShares, Inc is the bank holding company for First Citizens Bank, a full‑service commercial bank headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company traces its roots to a community bank founded in 1898 and has grown into a diversified financial services organization that operates through its banking subsidiary to serve retail, commercial and institutional clients.

First Citizens offers a broad suite of banking products and services, including consumer and business deposit accounts, commercial and industrial lending, real estate and mortgage lending, treasury and cash management, and specialized lending solutions.