FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $211.6667.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on FSV shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of FirstService in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of FirstService from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $202.00 price objective on shares of FirstService in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $217.00 target price on shares of FirstService in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of FirstService from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th.

FirstService Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FSV opened at $155.75 on Friday. FirstService has a 12 month low of $147.23 and a 12 month high of $209.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a PE ratio of 49.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $157.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.55.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. FirstService had a return on equity of 18.69% and a net margin of 2.64%.FirstService’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstService will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $0.305 dividend. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This is an increase from FirstService’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.81%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FSV. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in FirstService by 493.4% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,775,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $432,173,000 after buying an additional 2,307,684 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of FirstService by 100.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,475,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $257,634,000 after acquiring an additional 740,583 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of FirstService by 18,366.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 719,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $111,981,000 after acquiring an additional 716,094 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of FirstService by 73.6% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,367,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $212,698,000 after acquiring an additional 579,615 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of FirstService during the fourth quarter worth about $85,597,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

About FirstService

FirstService Corporation, founded in 1989 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is a leading provider of property services in North America. The company operates through two principal segments—FirstService Residential and FirstService Brands—offering a broad range of services to residential, commercial and homeowner association clients.

FirstService Residential delivers community management, financial oversight and consulting services to thousands of residential communities across the United States and Canada.