FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Short Interest Up 19.0% in December

FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) saw a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 165,000 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the December 15th total of 138,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 89,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FSV shares. Scotiabank raised their price target on FirstService from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on FirstService from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price objective on FirstService from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.33.

Institutional Trading of FirstService

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FSV. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of FirstService in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new position in shares of FirstService in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of FirstService in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstService in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Institutional investors own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

FirstService Trading Up 1.3 %

FSV stock traded up $2.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $182.36. The company had a trading volume of 65,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 83,129. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $185.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $179.87. FirstService has a 12 month low of $141.26 and a 12 month high of $197.84. The stock has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.98 and a beta of 1.06.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. FirstService had a net margin of 2.19% and a return on equity of 16.68%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that FirstService will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstService Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. FirstService’s payout ratio is 41.67%.

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.