Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) Short Interest Up 20.3% in February

Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 376,200 shares, a growth of 20.3% from the January 31st total of 312,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 141,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert N. Latella purchased 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.00 per share, with a total value of $100,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $400,000. The trade was a 33.33 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Financial Institutions

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FISI. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Financial Institutions by 666.8% in the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,583,625 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $370,697,000 after purchasing an additional 11,812,109 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Financial Institutions in the fourth quarter valued at $18,294,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Financial Institutions in the fourth quarter valued at $11,168,000. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Financial Institutions in the fourth quarter worth about $8,320,000. Finally, Fourthstone LLC raised its position in shares of Financial Institutions by 1,463.9% in the fourth quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 318,254 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,685,000 after acquiring an additional 297,904 shares during the period. 60.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on FISI shares. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Financial Institutions in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Financial Institutions from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Financial Institutions from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Financial Institutions in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock.

Financial Institutions Price Performance

Shares of FISI opened at $26.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $416.71 million, a PE ratio of -18.57 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Financial Institutions has a 1-year low of $16.29 and a 1-year high of $29.79. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $27.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.51.

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.20). Financial Institutions had a negative net margin of 6.69% and a positive return on equity of 11.12%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Financial Institutions will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Financial Institutions Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Financial Institutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.60%. Financial Institutions’s payout ratio is -85.52%.

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.