Sheets Smith Investment Management Takes $1.43 Million Position in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Sheets Smith Investment Management bought a new stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,432,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FI. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Fiserv during the third quarter worth about $764,543,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Fiserv during the fourth quarter worth about $614,982,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Fiserv by 17.8% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Fiserv during the fourth quarter worth about $134,710,000. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in Fiserv by 788.7% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Fiserv

In related news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $53,637,326.05. The trade was 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. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FI shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Fiserv from $233.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price 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. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Fiserv from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Fiserv from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.83.

Fiserv Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of FI opened at $218.01 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $220.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $206.46. Fiserv, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.98 and a fifty-two week high of $238.59. The firm has a market cap of $122.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.45, a PEG 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, equities research analysts forecast that Fiserv, Inc. will post 10.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Fiserv declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to buyback 60,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.