Short Interest in Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) Drops By 22.0%

Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) saw a significant decline in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 49,200 shares, a decline of 22.0% from the October 31st total of 63,100 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 39,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Financial Institutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Financial Institutions Price Performance

Shares of Financial Institutions stock opened at $27.16 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $25.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $420.17 million, a PE ratio of 8.54 and a beta of 0.90. Financial Institutions has a 12 month low of $16.29 and a 12 month high of $29.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $50.12 million for the quarter. Financial Institutions had a net margin of 13.72% and a return on equity of 11.32%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Financial Institutions will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Financial Institutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Financial Institutions’s payout ratio is presently 37.74%.

Institutional Trading of Financial Institutions

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FISI. PL Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Financial Institutions by 408.0% in the 3rd quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,771,516 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $45,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,422,765 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Financial Institutions by 2.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 784,928 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,772,000 after purchasing an additional 16,462 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Financial Institutions by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,685 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,036,000 after purchasing an additional 7,045 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Financial Institutions by 2.4% in the third quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 350,239 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,921,000 after purchasing an additional 8,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Financial Institutions by 9.0% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 332,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,424,000 after buying an additional 27,400 shares during the period. 60.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.