Fiserv Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:FI)

Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 2,777 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 39% compared to the average volume of 2,004 call options.

Insider Activity at Fiserv

In other Fiserv news, CAO Kenneth Best sold 20,821 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.61, for a total transaction of $4,468,394.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 38,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,320,644.31. The trade was a 34.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Heidi Miller sold 30,000 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.13, for a total value of $6,033,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,684,555.55. The trade was a 47.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 235,821 shares of company stock worth $44,299,745. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fiserv

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FI. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in Fiserv during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $764,543,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Fiserv by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,442,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,696,341,000 after buying an additional 1,427,664 shares in the last quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S purchased a new position in Fiserv during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $172,993,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Fiserv during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $105,031,000. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in Fiserv by 788.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 632,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $109,700,000 after buying an additional 561,377 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

Fiserv Stock Up 1.6 %

FI stock opened at $207.26 on Friday. Fiserv has a fifty-two week low of $130.27 and a fifty-two week high of $223.23. The business’s 50-day moving average is $203.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $117.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.93.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. Fiserv had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 15.22%. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Fiserv will post 8.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on FI. Barclays boosted their price objective on Fiserv from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on Fiserv from $185.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Fiserv from $190.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Fiserv from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on Fiserv in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.25.

Fiserv Company Profile

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.