First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) Rating Lowered to Neutral at Wedbush

Wedbush downgraded shares of First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $2,150.00 target price on the bank’s stock, down from their prior target price of $2,450.00. Wedbush also issued estimates for First Citizens BancShares’ Q3 2024 earnings at $48.03 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $47.86 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $199.68 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $46.13 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $47.58 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $50.40 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $50.90 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $49.57 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $53.75 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $220.00 EPS.

FCNCA has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $1,950.00 to $2,250.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. They set a buy rating and a $2,005.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $1,950.00 to $2,150.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James upgraded shares of First Citizens BancShares from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $1,900.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,100.00 to $2,300.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Citizens BancShares has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $1,962.90.

First Citizens BancShares Stock Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ:FCNCA opened at $1,845.53 on Tuesday. First Citizens BancShares has a 1-year low of $1,274.91 and a 1-year high of $2,174.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1,954.63 and a 200 day moving average of $1,770.76. The firm has a market cap of $26.82 billion, a PE ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $50.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $44.91 by $5.96. First Citizens BancShares had a net margin of 18.19% and a return on equity of 14.84%. The company had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $52.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that First Citizens BancShares will post 200.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Citizens BancShares declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, July 25th that permits the company to repurchase $3.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to purchase up to 12.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

First Citizens BancShares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. First Citizens BancShares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.64%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 832 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 83.7% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 15,212 shares of the bank’s stock worth $21,586,000 after acquiring an additional 6,931 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,675 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,377,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 14,331 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,335,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank increased its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 98.4% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 379 shares of the bank’s stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. 61.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About First Citizens BancShares

First Citizens BancShares, Inc operates as the holding company for First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company that provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and professionals. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, money market, and time deposit accounts.