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

Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $127.00.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EEFT. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday.

Euronet Worldwide Trading Down 4.4 %

NASDAQ EEFT opened at $101.39 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $101.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.15. Euronet Worldwide has a 12 month low of $91.07 and a 12 month high of $117.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.43.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.23). Euronet Worldwide had a net margin of 7.69% and a return on equity of 27.74%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Euronet Worldwide will post 9.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Euronet Worldwide news, CEO Kevin J. Caponecchi sold 52,034 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 90,288 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,603.68. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikos Fountas sold 21,479 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,370 shares in the company, valued at $5,423,437.20. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 82,910 shares of company stock worth $8,780,102. Company insiders own 10.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Euronet Worldwide

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank purchased a new position in Euronet Worldwide in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,461,000. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,096,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $112,743,000 after acquiring an additional 190,453 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 4,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $479,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. CSS LLC IL acquired a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $462,000. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $247,000. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Euronet Worldwide

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.