FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Short Interest Up 19.0% in December

FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 165,000 shares, a growth of 19.0% from the December 15th total of 138,600 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 89,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on FSV. StockNews.com raised FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. TD Securities upped their price objective on FirstService from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Scotiabank increased their price target on FirstService from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on FirstService from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.33.

FirstService Price Performance

Shares of FSV traded up $2.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $182.36. 65,852 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 83,129. The company has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 75.98 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.87. FirstService has a one year low of $141.26 and a one year high of $197.84.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. FirstService had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 2.19%. FirstService’s revenue was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that FirstService will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstService Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.67%.

Institutional Trading of FirstService

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FSV. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of FirstService by 13.5% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FirstService by 3.7% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,845,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FirstService by 8.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 193,129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,427,000 after acquiring an additional 14,579 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in FirstService by 0.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 128,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,580,000 after buying an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in FirstService by 1.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 164,183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,017,000 after buying an additional 3,048 shares in the last quarter. 69.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstService Company Profile

FirstService Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides residential property management and other essential property services to residential and commercial customers in the United States and Canada. It operates through two segments: FirstService Residential and FirstService Brands. The FirstService Residential segment offers services for private residential communities, such as condominiums, co-operatives, homeowner associations, master-planned communities, active adult and lifestyle communities, and various other residential developments.