Two local banks and a manufacturer have been added to three different Russell Investments indices as of June 26, giving the stocks added visibility as part of prominent benchmarks.

The Russell indices are reconstituted each year to capture the 3,000 largest U. S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by market value to create the Russell 3000. Within that group, the top 1,000 become the large-capitalization Russell 1000 Index, while the next 2,000 are the small-cap Russell 2000.

First Niagara Financial Group was added to the Russell 1000, moving up from its earlier position as part of the Russell 2000.

The Lockport-based savings bank was among several financial services firms added to the Russell 1000. It’s already a member of the S&P MidCap 400 and Nasdaq Financial 100 indices.

“Our move up market is another validation of our focus and commitment to drive long-term profitability, growth and shareholder value,” said Chief Financial Officer Michael W. Harrington.

Astronics Corp. of East Aurora, maker of high-performance lighting and electrical power systems for the aircraft and defense industries, joined the Russell 3000, and is part of the Russell 2000 subset. It joins Computer Task Group of Buffalo in making the same move.

Finally, Evans Bancorp of Angola was added to the Russell Microcap Index, which includes the smallest 1,000 companies in the Russell 2000 and the next 1,000 smallest U. S. stocks based on market value.

Russell Investment Group, a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., has $136 billion in assets under management. Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. In all, there were 427 changes to the Russell 3000.