Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Acquires Shares of 9,163 Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,163 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,217,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meritage Portfolio Management bought a new position in Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at about $995,000. Piscataqua Savings Bank bought a new position in Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at about $67,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at about $78,000. Liberty Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,071,000. Finally, Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fiserv in the fourth quarter valued at about $84,583,000. 90.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FI has been the topic of several recent research reports. BNP Paribas raised Fiserv from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Fiserv from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Fiserv from $158.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. B. Riley raised their price objective on Fiserv from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Fiserv from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fiserv has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.33.

Fiserv Price Performance

NYSE:FI traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $152.28. 485,340 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,537,011. The company has a market cap of $89.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $152.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.96. Fiserv, Inc. has a 52-week low of $109.11 and a 52-week high of $159.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $1.58 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fiserv, Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fiserv

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

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.