Fiserv (NYSE:FI) Earns Overweight Rating from Stephens

Fiserv (NYSE:FI)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Stephens in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $255.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock. Stephens’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 22.26% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Fiserv from $190.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Fiserv from $222.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup increased their target price on Fiserv from $187.00 to $226.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Fiserv from $225.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fiserv has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.88.

Fiserv Stock Up 1.3 %

Fiserv stock opened at $208.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Fiserv has a 1-year low of $131.95 and a 1-year high of $223.23. The company has a market cap of $118.66 billion, a PE ratio of 40.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $209.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.52.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. Fiserv had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 15.22%. The company had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. Fiserv’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fiserv will post 8.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fiserv

In other Fiserv news, Director Doyle Simons sold 40,000 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.97, for a total value of $8,078,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 76,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,386,074.60. The trade was a 34.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Kenneth Best sold 20,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.61, for a total value of $4,468,394.81. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 38,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,320,644.31. This represents a 34.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 90,821 shares of company stock valued at $18,581,095. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fiserv by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,442,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,696,341,000 after buying an additional 1,427,664 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Fiserv by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,173,941 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,069,204,000 after purchasing an additional 64,332 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Fiserv by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,612,789 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $687,489,000 after purchasing an additional 85,598 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in Fiserv during the third quarter worth $764,543,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Fiserv by 8.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,960,012 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $441,173,000 after buying an additional 225,159 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

About Fiserv

Fiserv, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides payments and financial services technology services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. It operates through Merchant Acceptance, Financial Technology, and Payments and Network segments.