Swiss National Bank Increases Stake in FirstService Corporation $FSV

Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) by 27.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 138,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 29,900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in FirstService were worth $19,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FSV. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in FirstService by 493.4% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,775,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $432,173,000 after acquiring an additional 2,307,684 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of FirstService by 18,366.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 719,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,981,000 after acquiring an additional 716,094 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in FirstService by 73.6% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,367,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $212,698,000 after buying an additional 579,615 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of FirstService in the fourth quarter worth about $85,597,000. Finally, Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its holdings in FirstService by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 1,984,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $308,677,000 after buying an additional 530,489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on FSV. Scotiabank set a $170.00 target price on FirstService in a report on Friday. TD raised their price objective on FirstService from $204.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $144.00 price target on shares of FirstService in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of FirstService from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $204.00 price objective on shares of FirstService in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $184.20.

FirstService Trading Up 4.8%

Shares of FSV stock opened at $137.46 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of 38.94, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.94. FirstService Corporation has a 52-week low of $119.41 and a 52-week high of $209.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.04. FirstService had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 2.88%.The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that FirstService Corporation will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.305 dividend. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. FirstService’s payout ratio is 34.56%.

FirstService Profile

FirstService Corporation, founded in 1989 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is a leading provider of property services in North America. The company operates through two principal segments—FirstService Residential and FirstService Brands—offering a broad range of services to residential, commercial and homeowner association clients.

FirstService Residential delivers community management, financial oversight and consulting services to thousands of residential communities across the United States and Canada.