Empirical Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 62,522 Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 62,522 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,843,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in Fiserv by 17.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,442,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,696,341,000 after purchasing an additional 1,427,664 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Fiserv by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,612,789 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $687,489,000 after buying an additional 85,598 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fiserv during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $764,543,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fiserv by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,685,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $302,737,000 after buying an additional 48,413 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fiserv by 0.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,317,778 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $236,739,000 after buying an additional 4,218 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

Fiserv Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of FI opened at $206.21 on Friday. Fiserv, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $136.48 and a fifty-two week high of $223.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $209.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $117.32 billion, a PE ratio of 39.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Insider Activity at Fiserv

In related news, CAO Kenneth Best sold 20,821 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.61, for a total value of $4,468,394.81. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 38,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Heidi Miller sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.13, for a total value of $6,033,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 33,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,684,555.55. This trade represents a 47.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 90,821 shares of company stock worth $18,581,095. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FI shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Fiserv from $220.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $208.00 to $231.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Fiserv from $183.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Fiserv from $183.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Fiserv from $185.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fiserv currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.00.

Fiserv 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.