Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 2,855 Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,855 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $586,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FI. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Fiserv by 17.8% during the third 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. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Fiserv during the third quarter valued at about $764,543,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Fiserv by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,711,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $762,328,000 after buying an additional 164,949 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fiserv by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,620,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $743,782,000 after buying an additional 90,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fiserv during the fourth quarter valued at about $614,982,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

Fiserv Stock Performance

FI stock opened at $214.91 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.62 billion, a PE ratio of 39.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.93. Fiserv, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $238.59. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $218.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $204.87.

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

Fiserv announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to buyback 60,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FI. StockNews.com cut Fiserv from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Fiserv from $233.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Fiserv from $255.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised their target price on Fiserv from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Fiserv from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fiserv has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fiserv

In other Fiserv news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.55, for a total transaction of $10,599,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 227,711 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,637,326.05. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Fiserv 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.