Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 24,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,204,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FI. Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Fiserv in the fourth quarter worth about $1,993,000. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Fiserv in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,218,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fiserv in the fourth quarter worth approximately $450,830,000. Welch & Forbes LLC bought a new stake in Fiserv during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $121,224,000. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Fiserv during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,217,000. 90.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fiserv Trading Up 0.2 %

Fiserv stock opened at $153.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $89.88 billion, a PE ratio of 28.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $152.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.96. Fiserv, Inc. has a one year low of $109.11 and a one year high of $159.99.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. Fiserv had a net margin of 16.68% and a return on equity of 15.73%. The business had revenue of $4.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fiserv, Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FI. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $163.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Fiserv from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. B. Riley boosted their price objective on Fiserv from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Fiserv from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Fiserv from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $168.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $164.33.

Insider Activity at Fiserv

In other Fiserv news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.53, for a total value of $3,588,720.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 163,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,477,911.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 111,575 shares of company stock worth $17,022,387 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.75% 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.