Financial Counselors Inc. Buys 113 Shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Fiserv were worth $595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Fiserv by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,711,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $762,328,000 after purchasing an additional 164,949 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Fiserv by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,620,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $743,782,000 after buying an additional 90,475 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fiserv during the fourth quarter worth $614,982,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Fiserv by 3.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,685,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $302,737,000 after acquiring an additional 48,413 shares during the period. Finally, Provident Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Fiserv by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 1,278,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $262,545,000 after acquiring an additional 174,505 shares in the last quarter. 90.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Fiserv from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com started coverage on Fiserv in a research report on Sunday, March 23rd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Fiserv from $214.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Fiserv from $208.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fiserv presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $242.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 227,711 shares in the company, valued at $53,637,326.05. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fiserv Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE FI opened at $216.15 on Friday. Fiserv, Inc. has a 12 month low of $145.98 and a 12 month high of $238.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.32 billion, a PE ratio of 40.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $222.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.67.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 17.93%. On average, analysts expect that Fiserv, Inc. will post 10.23 EPS for the current year.

Fiserv declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to buyback 60,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board 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.