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

FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $197.2222.

Several brokerages recently commented on FSV. Weiss Ratings cut shares of FirstService from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of FirstService from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. Loop Capital started coverage on shares of FirstService in a research report on Monday, May 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $140.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, TD Securities set a $204.00 price objective on FirstService in a research report on Friday, April 24th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FSV. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of FirstService by 493.4% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,775,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $432,173,000 after purchasing an additional 2,307,684 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP lifted its position in FirstService by 12.9% during the third quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 2,216,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $422,263,000 after purchasing an additional 253,155 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its stake in FirstService by 36.5% in 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 buying an additional 530,489 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FirstService by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,954,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $304,000,000 after buying an additional 29,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of FirstService by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,791,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $278,247,000 after buying an additional 239,941 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

FirstService Stock Performance

Shares of FSV opened at $140.85 on Friday. FirstService has a 52-week low of $119.41 and a 52-week high of $209.66. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $146.90. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $6.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.95.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. FirstService had a return on equity of 17.91% and a net margin of 2.92%.The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that FirstService will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a $0.305 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.46%.

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.