Essex Savings Bank Buys New Stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Essex Savings Bank purchased a new stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Clean Yield Group boosted its stake in shares of Fiserv by 431.3% in the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 170 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its position in Fiserv by 42.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 191 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Fiserv by 95.5% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 260 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Fiserv during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. 90.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fiserv Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of FI stock opened at $206.21 on Friday. Fiserv, Inc. has a twelve month low of $136.48 and a twelve month high of $223.23. The stock has a market cap of $117.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.66, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $209.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $186.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. Fiserv had a net margin of 15.22% and a return on equity of 17.10%. Fiserv’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fiserv, Inc. will post 8.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on FI. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Fiserv from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Fiserv from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Fiserv from $222.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Compass Point began coverage on Fiserv in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $278.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Fiserv from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fiserv news, CAO Kenneth Best sold 20,821 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.61, for a total transaction of $4,468,394.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 38,771 shares in the company, valued at $8,320,644.31. This trade represents a 34.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Doyle Simons sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.97, for a total transaction of $8,078,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 76,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,386,074.60. This represents a 34.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 90,821 shares of company stock valued at $18,581,095 over the last quarter. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fiserv Company 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.