Argent Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV)

Argent Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) by 16.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 33,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,611 shares during the quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in FirstService were worth $6,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. JCIC Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of FirstService in the 4th quarter worth about $3,999,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in FirstService by 253.4% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 19,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,503,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in FirstService in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of FirstService by 5.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 200,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,634,000 after purchasing an additional 10,191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstService by 486.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 469,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,308,000 after purchasing an additional 389,129 shares during the last quarter. 69.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FirstService Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ FSV opened at $179.71 on Thursday. FirstService Co. has a 1 year low of $141.26 and a 1 year high of $197.84. The company has a market cap of $8.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.88 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $179.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. FirstService had a net margin of 2.19% and a return on equity of 16.68%. FirstService’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 firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that FirstService Co. will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstService Announces Dividend

The business 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 yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FSV. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of FirstService from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. TD Securities raised their price target on FirstService from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com upgraded FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on FirstService from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.33.

FirstService Company Profile

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.