Stephens Reaffirms Equal Weight Rating for Fiserv (NYSE:FI)

Fiserv (NYSE:FI)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by analysts at Stephens in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $165.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 8.27% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Fiserv in a research note on Saturday, February 3rd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Fiserv from $158.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Fiserv from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Fiserv from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Fiserv from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fiserv currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $161.46.

Fiserv Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE FI traded down $2.99 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $152.40. The company had a trading volume of 940,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,530,884. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Fiserv has a 52 week low of $109.11 and a 52 week high of $159.99. The business’s 50-day moving average is $152.14 and its 200-day moving average is $137.23. The stock has a market cap of $89.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.91.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $4.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.57 billion. Fiserv had a net margin of 16.07% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Fiserv will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fiserv

In other news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 63,646 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $9,801,484.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 163,699 shares in the company, valued at $25,209,646. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 111,575 shares of company stock valued at $17,022,387. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FI. Spire Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Fiserv by 12.9% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 63,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,121,000 after purchasing an additional 7,230 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Fiserv by 11.2% in the first quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. H&H Retirement Design & Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Fiserv in the first quarter valued at approximately $321,000. BSW Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of Fiserv by 2.8% in the first quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 2,821 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in Fiserv by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 9,921 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,586,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares during the period. 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.