Bessemer Group Inc. Grows Stake in FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV)

Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) by 6.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 166,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,244 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in FirstService were worth $27,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in FirstService by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,794,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $325,100,000 after purchasing an additional 23,103 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of FirstService by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,057,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $191,524,000 after buying an additional 113,592 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of FirstService by 53.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 656,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,767,000 after acquiring an additional 229,889 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in FirstService by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 556,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,632,000 after acquiring an additional 86,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in FirstService in the 4th quarter worth about $98,615,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.35% of the company’s stock.

FirstService Stock Performance

Shares of FSV opened at $171.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 1.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.30 and a beta of 1.01. FirstService Corporation has a 52-week low of $149.20 and a 52-week high of $197.84. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.54.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.08. FirstService had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that FirstService Corporation will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of FirstService from $217.50 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of FirstService from $198.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of FirstService from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.40.

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.