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

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

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Fiserv by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,506,740 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,705,241,000 after buying an additional 789,232 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Fiserv by 2.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,416,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $724,848,000 after acquiring an additional 168,286 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Fiserv by 5.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,207,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $588,252,000 after acquiring an additional 258,036 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in Fiserv by 1.8% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,340,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $377,357,000 after buying an additional 60,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. purchased a new stake in Fiserv in the fourth quarter worth about $400,079,000. 90.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Fiserv

In other news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 63,646 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $9,801,484.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 163,699 shares in the company, valued at $25,209,646. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 111,575 shares of company stock worth $17,022,387. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Fiserv Stock Performance

NYSE FI traded down $0.76 on Wednesday, hitting $152.28. 485,340 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,537,011. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $152.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $139.96. Fiserv, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.11 and a fifty-two week high of $159.99. The firm has a market cap of $89.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.92.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.11. Fiserv had a return on equity of 15.73% and a net margin of 16.68%. The firm had revenue of $4.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. Fiserv’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Fiserv, Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price objective on shares of Fiserv in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Fiserv from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. 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 report on Wednesday, April 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded Fiserv from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Fiserv from $171.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $164.33.

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.