First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) Upgraded at Citigroup

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

FCNCA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on First Citizens BancShares from $2,550.00 to $2,300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $2,600.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of First Citizens BancShares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $2,100.00 to $2,500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,025.00 to $2,625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price target on 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $2,157.64.

First Citizens BancShares Price Performance

Shares of First Citizens BancShares stock opened at $2,121.05 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $2,101.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,934.36. First Citizens BancShares has a 12-month low of $1,363.97 and a 12-month high of $2,388.78. The firm has a market cap of $29.67 billion, a PE ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) last posted its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. First Citizens BancShares had a net margin of 17.36% and a return on equity of 13.63%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $55.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that First Citizens BancShares will post 187.88 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Citizens BancShares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its position in First Citizens BancShares by 11.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 323,532 shares of the bank’s stock worth $595,607,000 after buying an additional 33,713 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in First Citizens BancShares by 15.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 58,529 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $107,749,000 after purchasing an additional 7,613 shares in the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 0.7% in the third quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 56,798 shares of the bank’s stock worth $104,562,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in First Citizens BancShares by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,156 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $86,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339 shares during the period. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its holdings in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 225.2% in the second quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 42,159 shares of the bank’s stock worth $70,979,000 after buying an additional 29,194 shares in 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.