FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Short Interest Update

FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) saw a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 169,300 shares, a decrease of 53.7% from the September 30th total of 366,000 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 77,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on FirstService from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of FirstService from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of FirstService from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on FirstService from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstService presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.33.

FirstService Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FSV traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $189.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 86,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 72,498. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.97 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $180.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $164.48. FirstService has a one year low of $134.77 and a one year high of $192.71.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.21. FirstService had a net margin of 1.73% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that FirstService will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.87%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FSV. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstService by 2,136.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 209,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,853,000 after purchasing an additional 199,937 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in FirstService by 6.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,733,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,427,000 after buying an additional 174,970 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in FirstService by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,654,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,363,000 after acquiring an additional 76,503 shares during the last quarter. Summit Creek Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstService in the 1st quarter valued at about $11,710,000. Finally, Boston Financial Mangement LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstService by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 246,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,008,000 after acquiring an additional 49,790 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

FirstService Company Profile

FirstService Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides residential property management and other essential property services to residential and commercial customers in the United States and Canada. It operates through two segments: FirstService Residential and FirstService Brands. The FirstService Residential segment offers services for private residential communities, such as condominiums, co-operatives, homeowner associations, master-planned communities, active adult and lifestyle communities, and various other residential developments.