Fiserv (NYSE:FI) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fiserv (NYSE:FI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on FI. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Fiserv from $258.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Fiserv from $208.00 to $231.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Fiserv from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Fiserv from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Fiserv from $190.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fiserv has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.83.

Fiserv Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of FI opened at $232.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Fiserv has a 1 year low of $145.98 and a 1 year high of $237.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.86. The firm has a market cap of $130.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Fiserv announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to repurchase 60,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.55, for a total transaction of $10,599,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 227,711 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,637,326.05. This trade represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fiserv

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fiserv during the fourth quarter valued at $1,406,452,000. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in Fiserv in the third quarter valued at about $764,543,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at about $614,982,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in Fiserv by 343.7% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,806,579 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $576,527,000 after purchasing an additional 2,174,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Fiserv by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,437,246 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,919,000 after purchasing an additional 2,153,554 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

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.