Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $126.25.

EEFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup downgraded Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $110.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $136.00 target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th.

Insider Transactions at Euronet Worldwide

In other Euronet Worldwide news, SVP Martin L. Bruckner sold 9,397 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.31, for a total transaction of $1,008,392.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,983 shares in the company, valued at $4,290,575.73. This trade represents a 19.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kevin J. Caponecchi sold 52,034 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total transaction of $5,547,344.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,625,603.68. This trade represents 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 in the last quarter. Insiders own 10.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 22.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 33,921 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,359,000 after acquiring an additional 6,154 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $714,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in Euronet Worldwide by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC grew its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC now owns 30,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,977,000 after buying an additional 5,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 7.0% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the period. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Performance

EEFT opened at $101.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $103.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.99. Euronet Worldwide has a 1-year low of $91.07 and a 1-year 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Euronet Worldwide had a net margin of 8.49% and a return on equity of 26.86%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.53 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Euronet Worldwide will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.