FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday.

FSV has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of FirstService from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of FirstService from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of FirstService from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price target on shares of FirstService from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.33.

FirstService Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ FSV traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $189.69. 86,222 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 82,817. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $164.48. FirstService has a 1-year low of $134.77 and a 1-year high of $192.71. The stock has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.91 and a beta of 1.05.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.10. FirstService had a net margin of 1.73% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that FirstService will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of FirstService

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FSV. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of FirstService by 1.5% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 81,663 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in FirstService during the first quarter valued at approximately $862,000. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in FirstService during the first quarter valued at approximately $429,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in FirstService by 103.1% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 8,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in FirstService during the first quarter valued at approximately $353,000. Institutional investors own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

About FirstService

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.