Fiserv (NASDAQ:FISV) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Fiserv (NASDAQ:FISV – Get Rating) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on Fiserv from $135.00 to $140.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Raymond James lifted their target price on Fiserv from $109.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on Fiserv from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 11th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Fiserv from $135.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Fiserv from $123.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fiserv currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.16.

Fiserv Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of FISV stock opened at $118.27 on Wednesday. Fiserv has a 1 year low of $87.03 and a 1 year high of $122.39. The stock has a market cap of $74.29 billion, a PE ratio of 31.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s fifty day moving average is $115.92 and its 200-day moving average is $109.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Fiserv (NASDAQ:FISV – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.02. Fiserv had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 13.36%. The company had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Fiserv will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fiserv announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase 75,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fiserv news, CRO Christopher M. Foskett sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total value of $999,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 97,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,840,815. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Fiserv news, CRO Christopher M. Foskett sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total value of $999,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 97,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,840,815. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Robert W. Hau sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.33, for a total value of $1,014,305.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 133,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,929,481.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,904,745 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fiserv

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Fiserv by 3.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 54,871,993 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,202,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639,245 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fiserv by 4.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,207,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,697,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,180,811 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fiserv by 5.1% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 42,445,989 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,971,669,000 after purchasing an additional 2,057,081 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Fiserv by 4.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,700,156 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,904,889,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022,653 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Fiserv by 1.2% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,421,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,400,906,000 after acquiring an additional 149,811 shares during the period. 88.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fiserv Company Profile

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Fiserv, Inc engages in the provision of financial services technology. It operates through the following segments: Merchant Acceptance, Financial Technology, and Payments and Network. The Merchant Acceptance segment provides commerce enabling solutions and serves merchants of all sizes around the world.