financial services

Hancock Whitney Bank parent company Hancock Whitney Corp (NASDAQ: HWC) and MidSouth Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: MSL), the parent company of MidSouth Bank, announced a merger agreement Tuesday for MidSouth to merge into Hancock Whitney.   What Happened The stock...

Fiserv Inc (NASDAQ: FISV) reported higher-than-expected first-quarter results Tuesday, with healthy internal revenue growth. The investor focus is likely to remain on the merger with First Data Corporation (NYSE: FDC) deal, and the fact that First Data reported a strong first quarter...

Morgan Stanley cited strong revenue and earnings growth and strong consumer card use in a Thursday upgrade of American Express Company (NYSE: AXP).  The Analyst Betsy Graseck upgraded AmEx from Equal Weight to Overweight and raised the target price from $123 to $140. The Thesis...

First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA) and Entegra Financial Corp (NASDAQ: ENFC) announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement Wednesday.  What Happened Raleigh, North Carolina-based First Citizens will buy Franklin, North Carolina-based Entegra for $30.18 per share for a...

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) continues to transform its Alipay app into a "super app" that will likely result in expanded use, higher engagement and synergies with other businesses, according to Bank of America. The Analyst Bank of America's Eddie Leung maintains a Buy...

Fidelity National Information Servcs Inc (NYSE: FIS) reached an agreement to buy Worldpay, Inc. (NYSE: WP), an e-commerce and payments company for around $34 billion. What Happened The combination of FIS and Worldpay will create a new entity that will offer a best-in-class enterprise banking,...

Square Inc (NYSE: SQ) is trading near 13 times 2020 estimated revenue and 62 times estimated EBITDA, one analyst says can't be justified as organic growth likely peaked in the third quarter of 2018. The Analyst Raymond James' John Davis downgraded Square from Market Perform to Underperform...

Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE: RJF) shares were 0.31-percent higher at $79.95 at the close Wednesday after the diversified financial services company said it reached an agreement to acquire Silver Lane Advisors, an investment bank that focuses on M&A transactions and other financial...

Financial services technology Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV) reached an agreement to acquire First Data Corp (NYSE: FDC), a leader in commerce-enabling technology, for $22 billion. What Happened Fiserv's all-stock acquisition will see First Data shareholders receiving 0.303 shares of Fiserv for...

As Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) evolved from online bookstore to the dominant force in e-commerce, the company had to break up its “monolithic” software, Amazon Web Services' Stephen Orban told the 2018 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards on Wednesday. The effort led to what is now...

Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF), a consumer financial services company mostly known for offering private label credit cards, is a "clear leader in an underappreciated subsegment of the card market," according to Wall Street's newest bull analyst. The Analyst The Buckingham Research...

The bearish case against Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV) has come to an end, according to Morgan Stanley. The Analyst Morgan Stanley's Ken Zerbe upgraded Synovus Financial from Underweight to Equal-weight with a price target raised from $52 to $53. The Thesis Synovus has...

Green Dot Corporation (NYSE: GDOT) is a provider of reloadable prepaid debit cards and cash reload processing services and the stock has risen more than 120 percent over the past year, but at least one analyst sees the potential for continued upside ahead The Analyst Citi's Andrew Schmidt...

What You Need To Know Chinese money service company LianLian International will use RippleNet’s xCurrent blockchain-based settlement solution for transactions between China, the U.S. and Europe. The agreement allows LianLian to receive real-time, international invoice and e-commerce...

Now two weeks removed from Election Day, it is not a stretch to say one of the safest spaces of all has been the U.S. equity market. Those looking for tactical safer spaces can certainly find them with myriad sector and industry exchange-traded funds with much of that safety coming from financial...