Fiserv (NYSE:FI) Upgraded by William Blair to Strong-Buy

William Blair upgraded shares of Fiserv (NYSE:FI) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

FI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Fiserv from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price target for the company from $154.00 to $175.00 in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Fiserv from $185.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $156.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Fiserv from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fiserv from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $172.29.

Fiserv Stock Performance

Shares of FI stock opened at $159.94 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $93.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.92. Fiserv has a fifty-two week low of $109.11 and a fifty-two week high of $162.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $151.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.94.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.81 billion. Fiserv had a net margin of 17.45% and a return on equity of 16.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.81 EPS. Analysts expect that Fiserv will post 8.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fiserv

In other news, EVP John Gibbons sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.76, for a total transaction of $416,528.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,213,329.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Fiserv news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 24,000 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.47, for a total value of $3,563,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 163,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,304,390.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John Gibbons sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.76, for a total transaction of $416,528.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,213,329.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 50,800 shares of company stock valued at $7,696,448. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fiserv

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fiserv during the 4th quarter worth $5,221,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Fiserv during the fourth quarter valued at about $355,000. PFG Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Fiserv in the fourth quarter worth about $308,000. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter worth about $278,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Fiserv during the 4th quarter valued at about $427,000. Institutional investors own 90.98% 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.