Short Interest in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) Decreases By 5.5%

Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,790,000 shares, a decrease of 5.5% from the August 31st total of 9,300,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,390,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Fiserv Stock Performance

NYSE:FI opened at $181.33 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $169.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $158.22. Fiserv has a twelve month low of $109.11 and a twelve month high of $181.88. The company has a market cap of $106.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.93.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.03. Fiserv had a net margin of 17.45% and a return on equity of 16.41%. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.81 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fiserv will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fiserv

In other Fiserv news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.86, for a total transaction of $3,716,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 163,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,350,427.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Fiserv news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.86, for a total transaction of $3,716,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 163,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,350,427.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Frank Bisignano sold 145,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.37, for a total transaction of $25,718,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,965,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $525,916,949.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 211,890 shares of company stock worth $36,572,057. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fiserv

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aveo Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $309,000. 9258 Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $552,000. Scotia Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,046,000. Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,446,000. Finally, Tradition Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 90.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FI shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $178.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.28.

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.