Brokerages Set Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) Target Price at $126.25

Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $126.25.

Several analysts have commented on EEFT shares. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $136.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Citigroup cut 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 report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EEFT opened at $100.02 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $103.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.44. Euronet Worldwide has a 12-month low of $91.07 and a 12-month high of $117.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.11. Euronet Worldwide had a net margin of 8.49% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.53 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Euronet Worldwide will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikos Fountas sold 21,479 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.56, for a total value of $2,224,365.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,423,437.20. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kevin J. Caponecchi sold 52,034 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,625,603.68. The trade was a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 82,910 shares of company stock worth $8,780,102 over the last three months. 10.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Euronet Worldwide

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 45.8% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,539 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $71,102,000 after purchasing an additional 224,982 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Euronet Worldwide in the 3rd quarter worth about $15,258,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 13.6% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $105,604,000 after acquiring an additional 127,240 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake 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. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide during the second quarter valued at approximately $9,047,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

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.