Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) Shares Purchased by Howard Capital Management Inc.

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Fiserv were worth $827,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FI. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fiserv by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,442,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,696,341,000 after purchasing an additional 1,427,664 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in Fiserv in the third quarter valued at approximately $764,543,000. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Fiserv by 3.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,685,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $302,737,000 after buying an additional 48,413 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Fiserv by 0.3% during 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 buying an additional 4,218 shares during the period. Finally, Provident Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Fiserv by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 1,278,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $262,545,000 after acquiring an additional 174,505 shares in the last quarter. 90.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FI shares. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Fiserv from $255.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Fiserv from $208.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Fiserv from $214.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Fiserv from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fiserv

In other Fiserv news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.55, for a total value of $10,599,750.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 227,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,637,326.05. This trade represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fiserv Stock Performance

Shares of FI opened at $232.47 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.26 billion, a PE ratio of 43.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $213.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $198.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Fiserv, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $237.99.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.03. Fiserv had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 17.93%. Equities research analysts forecast that Fiserv, Inc. will post 10.23 EPS for the current year.

Fiserv announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to repurchase 60,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Fiserv Profile

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.