Brokerages Set FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Target Price at $198.33

FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $198.33.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FSV. Scotiabank lifted their price target on FirstService from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of FirstService from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of FirstService from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of FirstService from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th.

Institutional Trading of FirstService

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of FirstService by 2,136.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 209,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,853,000 after purchasing an additional 199,937 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in FirstService by 6.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,733,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,427,000 after buying an additional 174,970 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in FirstService by 4.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,654,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,363,000 after buying an additional 76,503 shares during the period. Summit Creek Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstService during the first quarter valued at about $11,710,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of FirstService by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 388,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,992,000 after acquiring an additional 63,807 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

FirstService Stock Performance

FSV opened at $186.16 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.28. FirstService has a 52-week low of $141.26 and a 52-week high of $192.71. The company has a market cap of $8.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.21. FirstService had a net margin of 2.19% and a return on equity of 16.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. FirstService’s quarterly revenue was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that FirstService will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.67%.

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.