Fiserv (NYSE:FI) to Buyback 60,000,000 Shares

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback 60,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Fiserv Trading Down 0.8 %

FI stock opened at $232.47 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $213.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.56. Fiserv has a fifty-two week low of $145.98 and a fifty-two week high of $237.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $132.26 billion, a PE ratio of 43.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.94.

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.03. Fiserv had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 17.93%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fiserv will post 10.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on FI. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $230.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Fiserv from $233.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Fiserv from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of Fiserv in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $278.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Fiserv from $258.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Guy Chiarello sold 45,000 shares of Fiserv stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.55, for a total transaction of $10,599,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 227,711 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,637,326.05. This trade represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.