Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Financial Institutions from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Financial Institutions Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Financial Institutions stock traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $26.73. The company had a trading volume of 56,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,174. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.00 and a 200 day moving average of $23.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $413.51 million, a P/E ratio of 8.41 and a beta of 0.92. Financial Institutions has a 52-week low of $16.29 and a 52-week high of $29.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $50.12 million for the quarter. Financial Institutions had a return on equity of 11.32% and a net margin of 13.72%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Financial Institutions will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Financial Institutions

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Financial Institutions by 408.0% in the third quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,771,516 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,422,765 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new stake in Financial Institutions in the third quarter worth approximately $4,706,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in Financial Institutions in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,364,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Financial Institutions by 147.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 63,213 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 37,653 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Financial Institutions by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 332,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,424,000 after buying an additional 27,400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.45% of the company’s stock.

About Financial Institutions

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.