Stock Repurchase Program Declared by Fiserv (NYSE:FI) Board of Directors

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback 60,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on FI shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $230.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Fiserv from $258.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Fiserv from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $190.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Fiserv from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fiserv has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $239.83.

Fiserv Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:FI opened at $234.63 on Friday. Fiserv has a one year low of $145.98 and a one year high of $238.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $213.26 and a 200-day moving average of $197.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $133.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.94.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.03. Fiserv had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 15.31%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fiserv will post 10.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.55, for a total transaction of $10,599,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 227,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,637,326.05. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Fiserv

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.