FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 275,800 shares, an increase of 27.2% from the May 31st total of 216,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 93,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of FirstService

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in FirstService by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,381,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $385,917,000 after buying an additional 16,362 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in FirstService by 4.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,654,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $274,363,000 after buying an additional 76,503 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in FirstService by 1.1% in the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,382,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $229,238,000 after buying an additional 15,482 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in FirstService by 8.2% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 699,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $101,744,000 after buying an additional 53,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in FirstService by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 520,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,579,000 after buying an additional 8,432 shares in the last quarter. 69.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstService Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ FSV opened at $152.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.00. FirstService has a 52 week low of $134.77 and a 52 week high of $171.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.43 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $149.55 and its 200 day moving average is $158.36.

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.01). FirstService had a return on equity of 16.42% and a net margin of 2.02%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that FirstService will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstService Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 5th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. FirstService’s payout ratio is currently 49.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FSV has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on FirstService from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on FirstService in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.60.

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.