Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

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

EEFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $136.00 target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research report 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. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup cut Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $118.00 to $110.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Euronet Worldwide from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

Euronet Worldwide Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of EEFT stock opened at $101.09 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.44. Euronet Worldwide has a 52-week low of $91.07 and a 52-week high of $117.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $103.29 and its 200 day moving average is $101.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm posted $2.53 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Euronet Worldwide will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Euronet Worldwide

In other news, CEO Nikos Fountas sold 21,479 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.56, for a total transaction of $2,224,365.24. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Martin L. Bruckner sold 9,397 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.31, for a total value of $1,008,392.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,290,575.73. This represents a 19.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 82,910 shares of company stock worth $8,780,102 in the last ninety days. 10.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Euronet Worldwide

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 45.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,539 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $71,102,000 after purchasing an additional 224,982 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Euronet Worldwide in the third quarter worth about $15,258,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Euronet Worldwide by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $105,604,000 after acquiring an additional 127,240 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 755,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $78,172,000 after acquiring an additional 113,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Euronet Worldwide in the 2nd quarter worth 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.