Lafayette Investments Inc. Acquires Shares of 4,074 Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Lafayette Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $541,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FI. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the second quarter valued at about $200,000. West Oak Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. 90.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Fiserv

In other Fiserv news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 63,646 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $9,801,484.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 163,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,209,646. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 111,575 shares of company stock valued at $17,022,387. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FI. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Fiserv from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Fiserv in a research note on Saturday, February 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on shares of Fiserv from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.21.

Fiserv Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:FI traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $147.51. The company had a trading volume of 713,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,487,859. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $151.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.10. The company has a market capitalization of $86.85 billion, a PE ratio of 29.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Fiserv, Inc. has a one year low of $109.11 and a one year high of $159.99.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.04. Fiserv had a net margin of 16.07% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The business had revenue of $4.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. Fiserv’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fiserv, Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current year.

About Fiserv

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.