FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) Stock Price Passes Below 50-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV)’s share price passed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $137.63 and traded as low as $137.12. FirstService shares last traded at $140.85, with a volume of 285,014 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FSV has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of FirstService from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $204.00 price target on shares of FirstService in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. TD Securities set a $204.00 target price on FirstService in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on FirstService from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.22.

FirstService Stock Up 3.6%

The firm has a market capitalization of $6.47 billion, a PE ratio of 39.79, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $137.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $146.90. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. FirstService had a return on equity of 17.91% and a net margin of 2.92%.The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that FirstService Corporation will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.9%. FirstService’s payout ratio is presently 34.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstService

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FSV. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of FirstService by 493.4% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,775,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $432,173,000 after acquiring an additional 2,307,684 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of FirstService by 18,366.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 719,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,981,000 after acquiring an additional 716,094 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in FirstService by 73.6% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,367,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $212,698,000 after purchasing an additional 579,615 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in FirstService during the fourth quarter worth about $85,597,000. Finally, Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in FirstService by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 1,984,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $308,677,000 after purchasing an additional 530,489 shares during the period. 69.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.