Legal & General Group Plc Sells 904,479 Shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its holdings in shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,489,260 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 904,479 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.61% of Fiserv worth $716,764,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Fiserv by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,568,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,376,482,000 after purchasing an additional 2,126,419 shares in the last quarter. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Fiserv by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,898 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,444,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Fiserv by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 59,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,247,000 after acquiring an additional 1,750 shares in the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in Fiserv by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 85,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,461,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Fiserv by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 433,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $89,081,000 after purchasing an additional 43,807 shares during the period. 90.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fiserv Price Performance

Fiserv stock opened at $198.77 on Monday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $209.66. The company has a market cap of $111.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.88, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.91.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $2.51 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fiserv, Inc. will post 10.23 EPS for the current year.

Fiserv declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to buyback 60,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FI. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $255.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Fiserv from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Fiserv from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Stephens upped their target price on Fiserv from $255.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Fiserv from $258.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fiserv has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $243.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.55, for a total value of $10,599,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 227,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,637,326.05. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.