FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Short Interest Update

FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 165,000 shares, a growth of 19.0% from the December 15th total of 138,600 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 89,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

FirstService Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:FSV traded up $2.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $182.36. The company had a trading volume of 65,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 83,129. FirstService has a fifty-two week low of $141.26 and a fifty-two week high of $197.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $185.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79. The firm has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.98 and a beta of 1.06.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. FirstService had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 2.19%. FirstService’s revenue was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that FirstService will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstService Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new position in shares of FirstService during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new position in FirstService in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in FirstService in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in FirstService by 35.0% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in FirstService in the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. 69.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on FSV. Scotiabank increased their target price on FirstService from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on FirstService from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. TD Securities increased their target price on FirstService from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.33.

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.