Bessemer Group Inc. Buys 10,244 Shares of FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV)

Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) by 6.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 166,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,244 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned approximately 0.37% of FirstService worth $27,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FSV. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in FirstService by 52.1% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of FirstService in the first quarter valued at $360,000. Vista Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstService by 7.0% during the first quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $332,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstService by 11.3% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $407,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of FirstService by 23.0% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. 69.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FSV. Wall Street Zen cut shares of FirstService from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. TD Securities increased their price objective on FirstService from $198.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on FirstService from $217.50 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstService has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.40.

FirstService Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of FSV stock opened at $171.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 1.94. The company has a market capitalization of $7.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.30 and a beta of 1.01. FirstService Corporation has a 52-week low of $149.20 and a 52-week high of $197.84. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.54.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. FirstService had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 2.46%. FirstService’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that FirstService Corporation will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.06%.

About FirstService

FirstService Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides residential property management and other essential property services to residential and commercial customers in the United States and Canada. It operates through two segments: FirstService Residential and FirstService Brands. The FirstService Residential segment offers services for private residential communities, such as condominiums, co-operatives, homeowner associations, master-planned communities, active adult and lifestyle communities, and various other residential developments.