FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Short Interest Update

FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 165,000 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the December 15th total of 138,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 89,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

FirstService Stock Performance

FSV traded up $2.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $182.36. The stock had a trading volume of 65,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 83,129. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $185.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $179.87. The firm has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.98 and a beta of 1.06. FirstService has a one year low of $141.26 and a one year high of $197.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. FirstService had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 2.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that FirstService will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

FirstService Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. FirstService’s payout ratio is 41.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on FSV shares. Scotiabank lifted their target price on FirstService from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. TD Securities lifted their target price on FirstService from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com upgraded FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on FirstService from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.33.

Institutional Trading of FirstService

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FSV. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of FirstService by 486.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 469,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,308,000 after acquiring an additional 389,129 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstService by 2,136.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 209,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,853,000 after buying an additional 199,937 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of FirstService by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,733,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,427,000 after buying an additional 174,970 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of FirstService by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 388,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,992,000 after buying an additional 63,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Financial Mangement LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstService by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 246,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,008,000 after buying an additional 49,790 shares during the last quarter. 69.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstService Company Profile

FirstService Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides residential property management and other essential property services to residential and commercial customers in the United States and Canada. It operates through two segments: FirstService Residential and FirstService Brands. The FirstService Residential segment offers services for private residential communities, such as condominiums, co-operatives, homeowner associations, master-planned communities, active adult and lifestyle communities, and various other residential developments.