Short Interest in FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Increases By 13.0%

FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) saw a significant growth in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 337,300 shares, a growth of 13.0% from the June 30th total of 298,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 95,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of FirstService from $174.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of FirstService from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of FirstService from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstService has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $189.33.

FirstService Trading Down 0.5 %

FSV stock traded down $0.80 during trading on Monday, reaching $174.83. The company had a trading volume of 50,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 86,064. FirstService has a 52 week low of $134.77 and a 52 week high of $177.46. The company has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.49 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $153.93 and a 200 day moving average of $158.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 2.00.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that FirstService will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. FirstService’s payout ratio is 49.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstService

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FSV. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of FirstService during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,488,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstService by 245.7% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 338,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,803,000 after purchasing an additional 240,303 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in FirstService in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,318,000. LM Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in FirstService in the fourth quarter worth approximately $15,557,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstService by 4.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,654,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,363,000 after purchasing an additional 76,503 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.