Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Position in FirstService Corporation $FSV

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,925,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,926 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in FirstService were worth $366,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of FirstService by 100.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,475,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $257,634,000 after acquiring an additional 740,583 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in FirstService during the second quarter valued at $93,904,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in FirstService during the second quarter valued at $56,029,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in FirstService by 79.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 318,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,880,000 after purchasing an additional 141,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstService by 131.3% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 176,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,754,000 after buying an additional 100,300 shares in the last quarter. 69.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on FSV. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $202.00 price target on shares of FirstService in a report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $217.00 price objective on shares of FirstService in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of FirstService in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.67.

FirstService Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ FSV opened at $158.31 on Friday. FirstService Corporation has a 1 year low of $147.23 and a 1 year high of $209.66. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $157.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.55. The company has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.10, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. FirstService had a return on equity of 18.69% and a net margin of 2.64%.The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that FirstService Corporation will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstService Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.305 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This is a positive change from FirstService’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. FirstService’s payout ratio is 38.61%.

About FirstService

FirstService Corporation, founded in 1989 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is a leading provider of property services in North America. The company operates through two principal segments—FirstService Residential and FirstService Brands—offering a broad range of services to residential, commercial and homeowner association clients.

FirstService Residential delivers community management, financial oversight and consulting services to thousands of residential communities across the United States and Canada.