Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stake in FirstService Corporation $FSV

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,882 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of FirstService worth $7,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstService by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $784,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in FirstService by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 214,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,941,000 after buying an additional 44,142 shares during the period. AltraVue Capital LLC lifted its position in FirstService by 2.1% in the third quarter. AltraVue Capital LLC now owns 126,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,007,000 after buying an additional 2,550 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in FirstService by 2.9% during the third quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 331,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,192,000 after buying an additional 9,359 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in FirstService by 0.8% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 360,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,604,000 after buying an additional 2,710 shares during the period. 69.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstService Price Performance

Shares of FSV stock opened at $148.81 on Friday. FirstService Corporation has a one year low of $146.29 and a one year high of $209.66. The company has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. FirstService had a return on equity of 18.69% and a net margin of 2.64%.The business had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. FirstService’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that FirstService Corporation will post 5.27 EPS for the current year.

FirstService Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.305 per share. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This is a positive change from FirstService’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of FirstService in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $217.00 price target on shares of FirstService in a report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $202.00 price target on shares of FirstService in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.67.

About FirstService

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.