Goldman Sachs Downgrades First Citizens BancShares (FCNCA) to Neutral

Goldman Sachs analyst Ryan Nash downgraded First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ: FCNCA) from Buy to Neutral with a price target of $2,300.00.

The analyst comments "We are downgrading FCNCA to Neutral (from Buy) with a PT of $2,300 or ~4% upside to shares. Shares have advanced 20% over the past quarter (OP peers by ~1200bps) and now trade at a premium to peers on our forecasts for both 2026 and 2027. Looking to 2026 and 2027, we think FCNCA's operating performance will lag peers given NII headwinds and slower ROTCE expansion. Overall, we think the key drivers of earnings growth from here are mixed and include FCNCA's NII is likely to see greater than expected pressure from rate cuts given the asset sensitivity of its balance sheet as well as headwind to AEA growth from the paydown of its FDIC note, which we estimate will post an $8.5bn headwind to AEA growth. That said, FCNCA has made meaningful investments in its regulatory / compliance needs and we expect a favorable inflection in the expense growth in 2H26. Additionally, FCNCA continues to return a significant amount of capital to shareholders (we estimate it will repurchase 3% of shares in 2026 and 4% in 27) and that should support shares somewhat. When we put it all together, shares are trading at ~1.3x P/TBV, a slight discount to peers. Given our view that it should be able to generate an 11% ROTCE over time, we think that leaves risk / reward balanced at this point."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on First Citizens BancShares click here. For more ratings news on First Citizens BancShares click here.

Shares of First Citizens BancShares closed at $2182.61 yesterday.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Bernstein SocGen Group Starts Terawulf Inc. (WULF) at Outperform
• Broadcom results, guidance beat on soaring AI chip sales; stock slips after hours
• BTIG Upgrades Medtronic, Inc. (MDT) to Buy