Raymond James & Associates Grows Holdings in FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV)

Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) by 4.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 148,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,995 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in FirstService were worth $27,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in FirstService by 8,066.7% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstService by 35.0% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstService by 49.6% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstService by 40.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of FirstService by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

FirstService Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of FSV opened at $189.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.89 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.25. FirstService Co. has a twelve month low of $134.77 and a twelve month high of $192.03.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. FirstService had a net margin of 1.73% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that FirstService Co. will post 4.35 EPS for the current year.

FirstService Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FSV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of FirstService from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of FirstService from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of FirstService from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of FirstService from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstService currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.33.

About FirstService

FirstService Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides residential property management and other essential property services to residential and commercial customers in the United States and Canada. It operates through two segments: FirstService Residential and FirstService Brands. The FirstService Residential segment offers services for private residential communities, such as condominiums, co-operatives, homeowner associations, master-planned communities, active adult and lifestyle communities, and various other residential developments.