Bessemer Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in FirstService Corporation $FSV

Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) by 52.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 191,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 65,830 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in FirstService were worth $26,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FSV. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in FirstService by 493.4% during the fourth 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. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in FirstService by 18,366.1% during 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 buying an additional 716,094 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in FirstService by 73.6% in 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. Norges Bank bought a new position in FirstService in the fourth quarter worth approximately $85,597,000. Finally, Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its stake in shares of FirstService by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 1,984,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $308,677,000 after acquiring an additional 530,489 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

FirstService Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of FirstService stock opened at $148.46 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The company has a fifty day moving average of $138.48 and a 200 day moving average of $145.91. FirstService Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $119.41 and a fifty-two week high of $209.66.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. FirstService had a return on equity of 17.91% and a net margin of 2.92%.FirstService’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstService Corporation will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.305 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FSV shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on FirstService from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on FirstService in a research report on Monday, May 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $140.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $204.00 price target on shares of FirstService in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, TD upped their price target on FirstService from $204.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.89.

FirstService Profile

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.