FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 15th, 2023

FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV – Get Rating) (TSE:FSV) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 470,300 shares, an increase of 9.7% from the February 13th total of 428,600 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 51,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 9.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstService

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Trust Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in FirstService during the fourth quarter valued at $246,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new stake in FirstService during the fourth quarter valued at $21,620,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main purchased a new stake in FirstService during the fourth quarter valued at $107,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in FirstService by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $493,000 after purchasing an additional 645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in FirstService during the fourth quarter valued at $28,511,000. 72.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstService Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of FSV opened at $136.33 on Wednesday. FirstService has a 1-year low of $112.44 and a 1-year high of $148.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.94 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $138.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $128.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV – Get Rating) (TSE:FSV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $982.34 million. FirstService had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 17.24%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstService will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

FirstService Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.225 per share. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. This is a positive change from FirstService’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. FirstService’s payout ratio is 29.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FSV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TheStreet raised shares of FirstService from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of FirstService from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of FirstService from $142.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of FirstService from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.75.

FirstService Company Profile

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FirstService Corp. engages in the provision of property services. It operates through the FirstService Residential and FirstService Brands segments. The FirstService Residential segment offers residential property management services in North America. The FirstService Brands segment covers residential and commercial customers through both franchise systems, and company-owned operations.