Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Has $8.67 Million Holdings in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 42,202 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 8,961 shares during the quarter. Fiserv makes up approximately 0.7% of Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fiserv were worth $8,669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FI. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in Fiserv in the 3rd quarter worth $764,543,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 1,427,664 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in Fiserv by 788.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 632,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $109,700,000 after buying an additional 561,377 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in Fiserv by 1,238.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 603,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,488,000 after buying an additional 558,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Fiserv by 30,479.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 484,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $99,628,000 after buying an additional 483,411 shares in the last quarter. 90.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Fiserv from $255.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Fiserv from $214.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Fiserv from $230.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Fiserv from $233.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.83.

Fiserv Stock Performance

NYSE FI opened at $223.82 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $217.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $202.24. Fiserv, Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.98 and a 1 year high of $238.59.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.03. Fiserv had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 17.93%. As a group, research analysts expect that Fiserv, Inc. will post 10.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fiserv declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase 60,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.55, for a total value of $10,599,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 227,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,637,326.05. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fiserv Company Profile

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.