70,830 Shares in Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) Purchased by Bahl & Gaynor Inc.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 70,830 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,409,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position in Fiserv by 18.0% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 13,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,483,000 after acquiring an additional 2,002 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Fiserv by 22.3% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 10,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,151,000 after acquiring an additional 1,859 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in Fiserv by 60.4% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,180 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 821 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Fiserv by 1.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,742,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its position in Fiserv by 45.8% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 106,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,036,000 after acquiring an additional 33,470 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

Fiserv Stock Up 1.7 %

FI stock traded up $2.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $155.89. 3,193,339 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,565,740. The company has a market capitalization of $91.78 billion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Fiserv, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.11 and a twelve month high of $159.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.74.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.57 billion. Fiserv had a net margin of 16.68% and a return on equity of 15.73%. The business’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Fiserv, Inc. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FI. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Fiserv from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Fiserv in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Fiserv in a research note on Saturday, February 3rd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 63,646 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $9,801,484.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 163,699 shares in the company, valued at $25,209,646. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 111,575 shares of company stock worth $17,022,387. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.