Abacus Planning Group Inc. Buys 202 Shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,566 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Fiserv were worth $1,892,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Fiserv by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,891,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,435,280,000 after buying an additional 218,833 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fiserv by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,568,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,376,482,000 after acquiring an additional 2,126,419 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Fiserv by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,030,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,649,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,121,597 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Fiserv by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,936,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,424,907,000 after acquiring an additional 340,938 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Fiserv in the fourth quarter worth about $1,406,452,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FI shares. Royal Bank of Canada set a $237.00 price objective on Fiserv in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Fiserv from $240.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Fiserv from $223.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of Fiserv from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Fiserv from $265.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.27.

Fiserv Price Performance

FI opened at $166.90 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $185.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $205.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.54 billion, a PE ratio of 30.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.91. Fiserv, Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.25 and a 52 week high of $238.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.06. Fiserv had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 15.31%. The business had revenue of $4.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Fiserv, Inc. will post 10.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Fiserv announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to repurchase 60,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fiserv

In other Fiserv news, insider Adam L. Rosman sold 2,512 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.68, for a total value of $403,628.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 53,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,577,901.80. The trade was a 4.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrew Gelb sold 5,652 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $904,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,061,600. The trade was a 18.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

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.