Rather & Kittrell Inc. Takes $368,000 Position in First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA)

Rather & Kittrell Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 200 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCNCA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 4.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,064,822 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,740,984,000 after acquiring an additional 47,167 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in First Citizens BancShares in the 1st quarter worth approximately $298,180,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its position in First Citizens BancShares by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 56,798 shares of the bank’s stock worth $104,562,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted 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 buying an additional 29,194 shares during the period. Finally, Sculptor Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 37,998 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,974,000 after buying an additional 5,467 shares during the period. 61.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on First Citizens BancShares from $1,950.00 to $2,150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of First Citizens BancShares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,150.00 to $2,000.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,550.00 to $2,300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $1,950.00 to $2,250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Citizens BancShares presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $2,025.90.

First Citizens BancShares Stock Down 0.3 %

FCNCA opened at $2,165.65 on Friday. First Citizens BancShares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,363.97 and a fifty-two week high of $2,275.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $31.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.41 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1,952.89 and its 200 day moving average is $1,854.91.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $45.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $47.40 by ($1.53). The business had revenue of $2.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. First Citizens BancShares had a return on equity of 13.78% and a net margin of 17.36%. During the same period last year, the company earned $55.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that First Citizens BancShares, Inc. will post 189.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Citizens BancShares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.95 per share. This is a positive change from First Citizens BancShares’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.64. This represents a $7.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. First Citizens BancShares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.76%.

First Citizens BancShares announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, July 25th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 12.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.