FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Short Interest Down 6.3% in December

FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) saw a large decrease in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 138,600 shares, a decrease of 6.3% from the November 30th total of 147,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 88,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FSV. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of FirstService from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. 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. StockNews.com upgraded FirstService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price on FirstService from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.33.

FirstService Price Performance

FirstService stock opened at $181.02 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.43 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $188.16 and its 200-day moving average is $177.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. FirstService has a 12 month low of $141.26 and a 12 month high of $197.84.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. FirstService had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 2.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.18 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that FirstService will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

FirstService Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FSV. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of FirstService by 486.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 469,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,308,000 after buying an additional 389,129 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstService by 2,136.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 209,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,853,000 after acquiring an additional 199,937 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of FirstService by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,733,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,427,000 after purchasing an additional 174,970 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of FirstService by 19.7% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 388,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,992,000 after purchasing an additional 63,807 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Financial Mangement LLC raised its stake in FirstService by 25.3% in the third quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 246,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,008,000 after purchasing an additional 49,790 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.