FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on FSV. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of FirstService in a research note on Friday, March 27th. TD Securities reduced their price target on shares of FirstService from $217.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of FirstService from $217.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $202.00 price target on shares of FirstService in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.86.

FirstService Trading Up 2.1%

FSV opened at $152.26 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $147.49 and its 200-day moving average is $156.44. FirstService has a 1-year low of $133.42 and a 1-year high of $209.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $7.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.18, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.09.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. FirstService had a net margin of 2.64% and a return on equity of 18.69%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that FirstService will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.305 per share. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. This is a positive change from FirstService’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in FirstService by 73.6% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in FirstService by 796.7% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. raised its holdings in FirstService by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 13,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,088,000 after purchasing an additional 862 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of FirstService by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,696,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp increased its stake in shares of FirstService by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 27,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,277,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

FirstService Company 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.