Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Grows Stock Position in Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO) by 9.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,013 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 91 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Fair Isaac were worth $1,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Fair Isaac during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Mechanics Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Fair Isaac during the 1st quarter valued at $46,000. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in Fair Isaac by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 24 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its holdings in Fair Isaac by 766.7% during the 1st quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 26 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in Fair Isaac by 600.0% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 28 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO William J. Lansing sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,565.99, for a total transaction of $5,967,987.89. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 44,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,432,864.62. This trade represents a 7.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Marc F. Mcmorris sold 797 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,087.50, for a total value of $1,663,737.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,175. The trade was a 76.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,906 shares of company stock worth $45,222,913 in the last three months. 3.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on FICO shares. Bank of America started coverage on Fair Isaac in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $2,800.00 target price on the stock. Baird R W upgraded Fair Isaac from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Griffin Securities set a $2,000.00 target price on Fair Isaac in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Fair Isaac in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Fair Isaac from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $2,021.00 to $1,900.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,218.64.

Fair Isaac Trading Up 1.9%

FICO opened at $1,533.01 on Thursday. Fair Isaac Corporation has a 12-month low of $1,477.11 and a 12-month high of $2,402.51. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,699.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,819.99. The company has a market capitalization of $37.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.02, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.28.

Fair Isaac (NYSE:FICO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $8.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.75 by $0.82. Fair Isaac had a negative return on equity of 51.41% and a net margin of 31.36%. The business had revenue of $536.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $520.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fair Isaac Corporation will post 24.15 EPS for the current year.

Fair Isaac announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, June 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 2.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Fair Isaac Profile

Fair Isaac Corporation develops analytic, software, and digital decisioning technologies and services that enable businesses to automate, enhance, and connect decisions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Scores and Software. The Software segment provides pre-configured analytic and decision management solution designed for various business needs or processes, such as account origination, customer management, customer engagement, fraud detection, financial crimes compliance, and marketing, as well as associated professional services.