Fiserv (NYSE:FI) Given Overweight Rating at Stephens

Stephens reissued their overweight rating on shares of Fiserv (NYSE:FI) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $255.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $183.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on Fiserv from $185.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Fiserv from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Fiserv from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Fiserv from $208.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fiserv presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.88.

Fiserv Stock Up 0.3 %

FI stock opened at $205.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $117.19 billion, a PE ratio of 39.61, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.93. Fiserv has a 1 year low of $131.41 and a 1 year high of $223.23. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $209.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fiserv will post 8.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Heidi Miller sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.13, for a total value of $6,033,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,235 shares in the company, valued at $6,684,555.55. This trade represents a 47.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Kenneth Best sold 20,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.61, for a total transaction of $4,468,394.81. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 38,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,320,644.31. This trade represents a 34.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 90,821 shares of company stock worth $18,581,095. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fiserv

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Fiserv during the third quarter worth $764,543,000. FMR LLC grew 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 worth $1,696,341,000 after purchasing an additional 1,427,664 shares during the period. Maj Invest Holding A S acquired a new stake in shares of Fiserv during the 3rd quarter worth about $172,993,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in Fiserv by 788.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 632,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $109,700,000 after buying an additional 561,377 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in Fiserv by 1,238.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 603,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $108,488,000 after buying an additional 558,774 shares during the last quarter. 90.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.