FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Short Interest Up 19.0% in January

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstService

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of FirstService by 486.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 469,141 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $87,308,000 after buying an additional 389,129 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in FirstService by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 388,430 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $69,992,000 after acquiring an additional 63,807 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in FirstService by 5.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 200,776 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $36,634,000 after purchasing an additional 10,191 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in FirstService by 253.4% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 19,351 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,503,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in FirstService by 65.4% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 21,103 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,851,000 after purchasing an additional 8,348 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FSV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Securities upped their target price 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. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of FirstService from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com upgraded FirstService from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on FirstService from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on FirstService from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.67.

FirstService Trading Down 4.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FSV traded down $7.71 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $173.94. 277,477 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 128,247. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.48 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $184.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.86. FirstService has a 1-year low of $141.26 and a 1-year high of $197.84.

FirstService Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.275 dividend. This is a positive change from FirstService's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. FirstService's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.67%.

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.