Vantiv Inc (NYSE:VNTV) was upgraded by stock analysts at Susquehanna from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, The Fly reports. The firm presently has a $52.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna’s price target points to a potential upside of 10.52% from the stock’s current price.

Shares of Vantiv (NYSE:VNTV) traded down 0.47% during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $46.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,000,735 shares. The company has a market cap of $6.79 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.54. The company has a 50-day moving average of $46.51 and a 200 day moving average of $46.50. Vantiv has a 1-year low of $33.92 and a 1-year high of $53.46.

Other hedge funds have modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vantiv by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,021,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,866,000 after buying an additional 21,226 shares during the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Vantiv by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,876,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,963,000 after buying an additional 39,675 shares during the period. ClariVest Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Vantiv by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 837,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,698,000 after buying an additional 178,383 shares during the period. Janus Capital Management boosted its position in Vantiv by 60.9% in the third quarter. Janus Capital Management now owns 836,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,567,000 after buying an additional 316,600 shares during the period. Finally, Nationwide Fund Advisors boosted its position in Vantiv by 220.1% in the fourth quarter. Nationwide Fund Advisors now owns 736,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,945,000 after buying an additional 506,725 shares during the period.

In other Vantiv news, Director Third Bancorp Fifth sold 13,374,592 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.67, for a total transaction of $691,065,168.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniela Mielke sold 974 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.62, for a total value of $48,329.88. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,186.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Vantiv from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Jefferies Group boosted their price target on Vantiv to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Pacific Crest reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $57.00 price target (up from $47.00) on shares of Vantiv in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Deutsche Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Vantiv in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Vetr upgraded Vantiv from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $54.43 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, December 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.65.

Vantiv, Inc. (NYSE:VNTV) is a holding company that conducts its operations through its majority-owned subsidiary, Vantiv Holding, LLC (Vantiv Holding). The Company operates in two segments: Merchant Services and Financial Institution Services. The Merchant Services segment provides merchant acquiring and payment processing services to national merchants, regional and small-to-mid sized businesses. Merchant Services includes aspects of card processing, including authorization and settlement, customer service, chargeback and retrieval processing and interchange management. The Financial Institution Service segment provides card issuer processing, payment network processing, fraud protection, card production, prepaid program management, automated teller machine (ATM) driving and network gateway and switching services. It also offers processing for accounts, such as business cards, home equity lines of credit and health savings accounts.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:VNTV

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