Estate Counselors LLC Has $1.81 Million Holdings in First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA)

Estate Counselors LLC raised its position in shares of First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) by 2.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 985 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Estate Counselors LLC’s holdings in First Citizens BancShares were worth $1,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 0.7% during the third 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in First Citizens BancShares by 2.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,156 shares of the bank’s stock worth $86,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 225.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Sculptor Capital LP grew its stake in First Citizens BancShares by 16.8% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its holdings in First Citizens BancShares by 8.4% during the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 37,697 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,467,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926 shares during the period. 61.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCNCA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on First Citizens BancShares from $1,950.00 to $2,250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com raised First Citizens BancShares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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 research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wedbush dropped 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $2,025.90.

First Citizens BancShares Price Performance

First Citizens BancShares stock opened at $2,353.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2,016.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,890.94. First Citizens BancShares, Inc. has a one year low of $1,363.97 and a one year high of $2,363.90. The company has a market capitalization of $32.92 billion, a PE ratio of 13.48 and a beta of 0.80.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $45.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $47.40 by ($1.53). The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. First Citizens BancShares had a return on equity of 13.63% and a net margin of 17.36%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $55.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that First Citizens BancShares, Inc. will post 187.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Citizens BancShares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.95 per share. This represents a $7.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. This is a boost from First Citizens BancShares’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.64. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. First Citizens BancShares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.76%.

First Citizens BancShares Profile

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.