Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Acquires 801 Shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) by 15.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,993 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Fiserv were worth $1,323,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FI. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fiserv by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,891,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,435,280,000 after acquiring an additional 218,833 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Fiserv by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,568,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,376,482,000 after acquiring an additional 2,126,419 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Fiserv by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,030,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,649,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,121,597 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Fiserv by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,936,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,424,907,000 after acquiring an additional 340,938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fiserv in the 4th quarter worth $1,406,452,000. Institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on FI shares. Wall Street Zen started coverage on shares of Fiserv in a report on Sunday, March 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Fiserv from $265.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Fiserv from $255.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Fiserv from $267.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho set a $200.00 target price on shares of Fiserv in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fiserv news, EVP Andrew Gelb sold 5,652 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $904,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,061,600. The trade was a 18.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Adam L. Rosman sold 2,512 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.68, for a total transaction of $403,628.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 53,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,577,901.80. This trade represents a 4.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Fiserv Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of FI stock opened at $166.90 on Friday. Fiserv, Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.25 and a 12 month high of $238.59. The stock has a market cap of $92.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.91. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $205.52.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.06. Fiserv had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 17.93%. The business had revenue of $4.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Fiserv, Inc. will post 10.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Fiserv declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase 60,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.