D.B. Root & Company LLC Trims Stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

D.B. Root & Company LLC lessened its stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) by 14.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 394 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Fiserv were worth $476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Clean Yield Group raised its holdings in Fiserv by 431.3% in the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 170 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Fiserv by 42.5% in the third quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 191 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fiserv in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fiserv during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Fiserv news, Director Heidi Miller sold 30,000 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.13, for a total value of $6,033,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,684,555.55. The trade was a 47.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Kenneth Best sold 20,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.61, for a total transaction of $4,468,394.81. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 38,771 shares in the company, valued at $8,320,644.31. This trade represents a 34.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FI shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $183.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Fiserv from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Fiserv from $190.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Compass Point started coverage on Fiserv in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $278.00 price objective for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.00.

Fiserv Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Fiserv stock opened at $209.48 on Thursday. Fiserv, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.13 and a fifty-two week high of $223.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $209.15 and a 200 day moving average of $188.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.28, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. Fiserv had a net margin of 15.22% and a return on equity of 17.10%. Fiserv’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Fiserv, Inc. will post 8.77 earnings per share for the current year.

About Fiserv

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.