State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 2,400 Shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its position in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 154,434 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,400 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Fiserv were worth $31,724,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FI shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Fiserv from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Fiserv from $214.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Fiserv from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a 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 report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of Fiserv in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $278.00 target price for the company. Three investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fiserv presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.83.

Fiserv Price Performance

NYSE:FI opened at $237.65 on Tuesday. Fiserv, Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.98 and a 52 week high of $238.59. The firm has a market cap of $133.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $217.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.84. 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 results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.03. Fiserv had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 17.93%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fiserv, Inc. will post 10.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Fiserv announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to buyback 60,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fiserv news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 227,711 shares in the company, valued at $53,637,326.05. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.