Meridian Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 5,038 Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 5,038 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $905,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Fiserv by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,173,941 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,069,204,000 after acquiring an additional 64,332 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Fiserv by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,612,789 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $687,489,000 after purchasing an additional 85,598 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Fiserv by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,960,012 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $441,173,000 after buying an additional 225,159 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Fiserv by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 2,171,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $323,624,000 after buying an additional 52,748 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Fiserv by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,157,827 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $321,602,000 after acquiring an additional 20,591 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

Fiserv Trading Up 1.9 %

FI opened at $221.56 on Friday. Fiserv, Inc. has a 12-month low of $125.42 and a 12-month high of $222.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.05 billion, a PE ratio of 42.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $195.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.87.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Fiserv in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Compass Point initiated coverage on Fiserv in a report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $278.00 price objective for the company. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Fiserv from $190.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Fiserv from $190.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on Fiserv in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fiserv news, CAO Kenneth Best sold 20,821 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.61, for a total transaction of $4,468,394.81. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 38,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,320,644.31. This represents a 34.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Doyle Simons sold 40,000 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.97, for a total transaction of $8,078,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 76,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,386,074.60. This trade represents a 34.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 235,821 shares of company stock valued at $44,299,745 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

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.