Fiserv (NASDAQ:FISV) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Fiserv (NASDAQ:FISV) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their target price on Fiserv from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $59.00 price target on Fiserv in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 price objective (down from $60.00) on shares of Fiserv in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price objective (down from $62.00) on shares of Fiserv in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $56.00 target price on shares of Fiserv and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fiserv has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.20.

Fiserv Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FISV opened at $51.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $27.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.86, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Fiserv has a fifty-two week low of $47.04 and a fifty-two week high of $140.19. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.87.

Fiserv (NASDAQ:FISV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $4.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.04 billion. Fiserv had a return on equity of 15.80% and a net margin of 13.42%.Fiserv’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fiserv will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fiserv

In other Fiserv news, Director Lance M. Fritz bought 10,000 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $51.95 per share, with a total value of $519,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 27,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,413,403.65. The trade was a 58.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Paul M. Todd purchased 10,060 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $49.70 per share, with a total value of $499,982.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 184,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,150,117.90. The trade was a 5.78% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fiserv

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FISV. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Fiserv during the fourth quarter worth about $3,507,063,000. Dodge & Cox bought a new stake in Fiserv in the fourth quarter worth about $3,323,210,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Fiserv in the second quarter valued at about $2,079,711,000. State Street Corp purchased a new position in Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,588,663,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fiserv during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $854,215,000. 90.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fiserv Company Profile

Fiserv, Inc, founded in 1984 and headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, is a global provider of financial services technology. The company develops and delivers integrated solutions for payments, processing, risk and compliance, customer and channel management, and business insights and optimization. Serving thousands of clients, Fiserv supports banks, credit unions, securities broker-dealers, leasing and finance companies, and retailers.

Fiserv’s core offerings include account processing systems that automate deposit, lending and transaction processing for financial institutions, as well as digital banking platforms that enable mobile and online banking services.