American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 745,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,694 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.13% of Fiserv worth $153,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position 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. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fiserv in the third quarter valued at $764,543,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Fiserv by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,711,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $762,328,000 after acquiring an additional 164,949 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fiserv by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,620,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $743,782,000 after acquiring an additional 90,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Fiserv during the fourth quarter worth about $614,982,000. 90.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fiserv Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE FI opened at $218.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $122.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.93. Fiserv, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $238.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $220.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.23.

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

Fiserv announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to buyback 60,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FI shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Fiserv from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Fiserv from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Fiserv from $233.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Fiserv from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.