Euronet Worldwide’s (EEFT) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $120.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on EEFT. Citigroup lowered Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $118.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $136.00 price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $127.13.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Performance

Euronet Worldwide stock opened at $103.46 on Thursday. Euronet Worldwide has a 52-week low of $91.07 and a 52-week high of $117.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $101.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.44.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Euronet Worldwide had a net margin of 8.49% and a return on equity of 26.86%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.53 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Euronet Worldwide will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Euronet Worldwide

In other Euronet Worldwide news, CEO Nikos Fountas sold 21,479 shares of Euronet Worldwide stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.56, for a total value of $2,224,365.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,423,437.20. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kevin J. Caponecchi sold 52,034 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total transaction of $5,547,344.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,625,603.68. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 82,910 shares of company stock valued at $8,780,102 over the last three months. 10.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Euronet Worldwide

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EEFT. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 0.7% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 18,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,793,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 1.1% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,176 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,260,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in Euronet Worldwide by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Euronet Worldwide by 0.6% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 25,674 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,540,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in Euronet Worldwide by 3.6% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 4,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. 91.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.