Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI - Free Report) by 146.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,803 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 11,783 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Fiserv were worth $4,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clean Yield Group increased its position in Fiserv by 431.3% during the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 170 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in Fiserv by 42.5% in the third quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 191 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Fiserv by 95.5% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 260 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in Fiserv during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in Fiserv during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.98% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Fiserv

In other news, Director Doyle Simons sold 40,000 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.97, for a total value of $8,078,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 76,180 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,386,074.60. The trade was a 34.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Kenneth Best sold 20,821 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.61, for a total value of $4,468,394.81. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 38,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,320,644.31. The trade was a 34.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 90,821 shares of company stock valued at $18,581,095 in the last ninety days. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FI has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Fiserv from $199.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Fiserv from $225.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $190.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Fiserv from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Fiserv from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $224.00.

Fiserv Stock Performance

NYSE:FI traded up $2.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $208.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,579,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,085,694. The business's fifty day moving average is $209.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $187.03. The stock has a market cap of $118.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.13, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.94. Fiserv, Inc. has a 1 year low of $136.93 and a 1 year high of $223.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. Fiserv had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 15.22%. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. Fiserv's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Fiserv, Inc. will post 8.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Fiserv

Fiserv, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides payments and financial services technology services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. It operates through Merchant Acceptance, Financial Technology, and Payments and Network segments.