First Citizens BancShares, Inc. $FCNCA Stock Sold by Cortland Associates Inc. MO

Cortland Associates Inc. MO lowered its position in First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,055 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 443 shares during the quarter. First Citizens BancShares makes up approximately 3.3% of Cortland Associates Inc. MO’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Cortland Associates Inc. MO’s holdings in First Citizens BancShares were worth $22,776,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FCNCA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of First Citizens BancShares by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 125,947 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $237,333,000 after buying an additional 1,886 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in First Citizens BancShares by 20.7% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 91,876 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $174,048,000 after acquiring an additional 15,788 shares in the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its position in First Citizens BancShares by 7.5% during the second quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 84,206 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $175,253,000 after acquiring an additional 5,909 shares in the last quarter. Check Capital Management Inc. CA raised its position in First Citizens BancShares by 3.0% during the first quarter. Check Capital Management Inc. CA now owns 44,068 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,054,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in First Citizens BancShares by 44.7% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 43,247 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,506,000 after acquiring an additional 13,366 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCNCA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of First Citizens BancShares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $2,300.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of First Citizens BancShares from $2,430.00 to $2,730.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of First Citizens BancShares from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $2,300.00 to $2,200.00 in a research note on Monday, October 26th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $2,475.00 price objective on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of First Citizens BancShares in a report on Thursday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $2,355.31.

First Citizens BancShares Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of FCNCA stock opened at $2,368.26 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $2,153.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2,065.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. First Citizens BancShares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $1,759.27 and a twelve month high of $2,429.96. The company has a market capitalization of $26.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.13, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.58.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 23rd. The bank reported $55.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $46.18 by $9.19. The firm had revenue of $2.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. First Citizens BancShares had a return on equity of 12.49% and a net margin of 16.54%. As a group, research analysts predict that First Citizens BancShares, Inc. will post 201.38 EPS for the current year.

First Citizens BancShares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 30th will be given a $2.25 dividend. This is a positive change from First Citizens BancShares’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 30th. First Citizens BancShares’s payout ratio is 4.30%.

First Citizens BancShares declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, October 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to reacquire up to 4.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Olivia Britton Holding sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.53, for a total value of $136,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,950. The trade was a 31.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Diane Morais acquired 50 shares of First Citizens BancShares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $2,168.11 per share, with a total value of $108,405.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $216,811. The trade was a 100.00% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

First Citizens BancShares Profile

First Citizens BancShares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. Its principal subsidiary, First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company, provides banking and financial services to individuals, businesses, and institutions through a network of branches and digital banking channels.

The bank offers deposit accounts, consumer and residential lending, commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, equipment finance, treasury management, and payment services.