Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Fiserv (NYSE:FI) Stock

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $220.00 to $240.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 16.78% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fiserv from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Fiserv from $225.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Fiserv from $230.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fiserv has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.00.

Fiserv Price Performance

NYSE:FI traded up $1.27 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $205.52. 73,227 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,166,798. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Fiserv has a 1 year low of $136.48 and a 1 year high of $223.23. The company has a market cap of $116.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $209.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $186.07.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Doyle Simons sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 76,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,386,074.60. The trade was a 34.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Kenneth Best sold 20,821 shares of the business’s 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 $8,320,644.31. This represents a 34.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 90,821 shares of company stock valued at $18,581,095. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fiserv

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fiserv by 17.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,442,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,696,341,000 after acquiring an additional 1,427,664 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings 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 worth $687,489,000 after purchasing an additional 85,598 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in Fiserv in the third quarter worth about $764,543,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Fiserv by 3.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,685,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $302,737,000 after purchasing an additional 48,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Fiserv by 0.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,317,778 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $236,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,218 shares in the last quarter. 90.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.