FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) Short Interest Up 30.5% in February

FirstService Co. (NASDAQ:FSV) (TSE:FSV) was the target of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 222,700 shares, an increase of 30.5% from the January 31st total of 170,700 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 113,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Institutional Trading of FirstService

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of FirstService during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new stake in shares of FirstService during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of FirstService during the third quarter valued at $53,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstService during the third quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Natixis increased its stake in shares of FirstService by 5,511.1% during the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 496 shares during the period. 69.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstService Trading Down 0.3 %

FSV traded down $0.52 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $175.51. The company had a trading volume of 92,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 126,318. The stock has a market cap of $7.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.09 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.49. FirstService has a 52 week low of $141.26 and a 52 week high of $197.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

FirstService Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is an increase from FirstService’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. FirstService’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Raymond James increased their target price on FirstService from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.67.

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.