Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $118.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $136.00 price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Euronet Worldwide from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.25.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EEFT opened at $98.15 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $102.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.34. The company has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.18, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Euronet Worldwide has a one year low of $91.07 and a one year high of $117.66.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Euronet Worldwide had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 8.49%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.53 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Euronet Worldwide will post 7.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kevin J. Caponecchi sold 52,034 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $5,547,344.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,288 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,603.68. This trade represents a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikos Fountas sold 21,479 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.56, for a total transaction of $2,224,365.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,370 shares in the company, valued at $5,423,437.20. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 82,910 shares of company stock valued at $8,780,102 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Euronet Worldwide

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 17.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 755,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $78,172,000 after acquiring an additional 113,685 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide in the 2nd quarter worth $867,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 6.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 117.1% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 51,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,402,000 after purchasing an additional 27,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide during the second quarter valued at $771,000. 91.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Euronet Worldwide Company Profile

Euronet Worldwide, Inc provides payment and transaction processing and distribution solutions to financial institutions, retailers, service providers, and individual consumers worldwide. It operates through three segments: Electronic Fund Transfer Processing, epay, and Money Transfer. The Electronic Fund Transfer Processing segment provides electronic payment solutions, including automated teller machine (ATM) cash withdrawal and deposit services, ATM network participation, outsourced ATM and point-of-sale (POS) management solutions, credit and debit and prepaid card outsourcing, card issuing, and merchant acquiring services.