DF Dent & Co. Inc. Sells 200 Shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

DF Dent & Co. Inc. lowered its stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Fiserv were worth $7,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. purchased a new position in Fiserv in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Fiserv during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in Fiserv during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. 90.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Fiserv

In related news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 227,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,637,326.05. This trade represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fiserv Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FI opened at $226.39 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $222.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.96. Fiserv, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.98 and a fifty-two week high of $238.59. The company has a market capitalization of $127.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $2.51 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that Fiserv, Inc. will post 10.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $258.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Fiserv from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Fiserv from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Fiserv from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $246.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Fiserv from $255.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $243.64.

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.