FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) Given New $215.00 Price Target at Stifel Nicolaus

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) had its price target lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $230.00 to $215.00 in a research note published on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

FSV has been the subject of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of FirstService from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. TD Securities set a $213.00 price target on shares of FirstService in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank raised shares of FirstService from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of FirstService from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of FirstService in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.17.

FirstService Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:FSV opened at $162.69 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. FirstService has a 52-week low of $153.13 and a 52-week high of $209.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $192.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.08. The company has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.87 and a beta of 0.99.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.76. FirstService had a net margin of 2.53% and a return on equity of 17.98%. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. FirstService’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that FirstService will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. FirstService’s payout ratio is currently 36.42%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstService

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FSV. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in FirstService by 100.8% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,475,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $257,634,000 after purchasing an additional 740,583 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in FirstService in the second quarter worth $93,904,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in FirstService in the second quarter worth $56,029,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its holdings in FirstService by 18.8% in the first quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 1,417,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $235,183,000 after purchasing an additional 224,125 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in FirstService in the first quarter worth $30,523,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

FirstService Company Profile

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.