Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 406 Shares of First Citizens BancShares, Inc. $FCNCA

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) by 55.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 330 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 406 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in First Citizens BancShares were worth $590,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in First Citizens BancShares by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 417,088 shares of the bank’s stock worth $816,022,000 after purchasing an additional 15,921 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares during the second quarter worth $177,604,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its position in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 1.4% during the third quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 70,248 shares of the bank’s stock worth $125,715,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 2.2% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 66,276 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $118,578,000 after acquiring an additional 1,450 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in First Citizens BancShares by 15.7% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 65,101 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $127,369,000 after acquiring an additional 8,826 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other First Citizens BancShares news, CEO Frank B. Holding, Jr. purchased 135 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $1,629.67 per share, for a total transaction of $220,005.45. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,118,176.09. The trade was a 5.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 13.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

First Citizens BancShares Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ FCNCA opened at $2,016.58 on Friday. First Citizens BancShares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1,473.62 and a 52-week high of $2,232.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $25.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $2,115.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,951.60.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The bank reported $51.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $44.24 by $7.03. First Citizens BancShares had a net margin of 15.21% and a return on equity of 11.12%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Analysts expect that First Citizens BancShares, Inc. will post 167.59 EPS for the current year.

First Citizens BancShares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. First Citizens BancShares’s payout ratio is presently 5.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on FCNCA. Raymond James Financial raised First Citizens BancShares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $2,100.00 to $2,200.00 in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,456.00 to $2,346.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a report on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of First Citizens BancShares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $2,300.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,100.00 to $2,050.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Citizens BancShares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $2,238.27.

About First Citizens BancShares

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.