Norges Bank Takes $85.60 Million Position in FirstService Corporation $FSV

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 550,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $85,597,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.20% of FirstService as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in shares of FirstService during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,120,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of FirstService by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 247,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,228,000 after buying an additional 7,136 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its position in FirstService by 40.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 174,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,135,000 after purchasing an additional 50,263 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its position in FirstService by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 346,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,820,000 after purchasing an additional 10,970 shares during the period. Finally, Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in FirstService in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,837,000. 69.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstService Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ FSV opened at $140.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.74, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.95. FirstService Corporation has a 52-week low of $119.41 and a 52-week high of $209.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $138.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

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

FirstService Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FSV. Scotiabank cut their target price on FirstService from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings lowered FirstService from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. TD Securities set a $204.00 target price on FirstService in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on FirstService from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstService presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $197.22.

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.