Wealth Alliance Raises Stock Holdings in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Wealth Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,988 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Fiserv were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FI. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Fiserv by 17.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,442,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,696,341,000 after purchasing an additional 1,427,664 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in Fiserv during the third quarter valued at $764,543,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Fiserv by 3.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,685,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $302,737,000 after purchasing an additional 48,413 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fiserv by 0.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,317,778 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $236,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,218 shares during the period. Finally, Provident Trust Co. boosted its holdings 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 worth $262,545,000 after acquiring an additional 174,505 shares during the period. 90.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.55, for a total value of $10,599,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 227,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,637,326.05. This trade represents a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Fiserv from $233.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Fiserv from $214.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays raised their price target on Fiserv from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Fiserv from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Fiserv from $230.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $239.83.

Fiserv Stock Performance

Shares of FI opened at $232.47 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $213.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $198.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Fiserv, Inc. has a 12 month low of $145.98 and a 12 month high of $237.99. The company has a market cap of $132.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.94.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.03. Fiserv had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 15.31%. Research analysts anticipate that Fiserv, Inc. will post 10.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fiserv declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase 60,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication 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.