First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) Downgraded by Citigroup to “Hold”

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Citigroup from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on FCNCA. Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,150.00 to $2,000.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $2,600.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,550.00 to $2,300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded First Citizens BancShares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $2,100.00 to $2,500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on First Citizens BancShares in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $2,700.00 price target on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $2,243.64.

First Citizens BancShares Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FCNCA opened at $2,070.94 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $2,122.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,948.22. The company has a market cap of $28.97 billion, a PE ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 0.83. First Citizens BancShares has a fifty-two week low of $1,363.97 and a fifty-two week high of $2,388.78.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $45.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $47.40 by ($1.53). First Citizens BancShares had a return on equity of 13.63% and a net margin of 17.36%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $55.92 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that First Citizens BancShares will post 187.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Citizens BancShares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 3,577.5% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 35,010 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $58,943,000 after buying an additional 34,058 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 323,532 shares of the bank’s stock worth $595,607,000 after acquiring an additional 33,713 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its holdings in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 225.2% during the 2nd quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 42,159 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,979,000 after acquiring an additional 29,194 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in First Citizens BancShares by 183,992.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 23,932 shares of the bank’s stock worth $440,580,000 after purchasing an additional 23,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in First Citizens BancShares by 6,773.9% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 23,921 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,274,000 after purchasing an additional 23,573 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.01% of the company’s stock.

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.