Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on EEFT. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $136.00 target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lowered Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $118.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $121.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Euronet Worldwide has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $125.38.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EEFT opened at $101.88 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Euronet Worldwide has a 1-year low of $81.99 and a 1-year high of $117.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $99.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.96. The stock has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72 and a beta of 1.46.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the prior year, the company posted $2.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Euronet Worldwide will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Juan Bianchi sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.58, for a total transaction of $410,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,095.20. The trade was a 24.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 10.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Euronet Worldwide

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Euronet Worldwide during the 1st quarter valued at $50,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Euronet Worldwide during the second quarter valued at about $57,000. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 174.9% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 547 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 69.5% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 588 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $80,000. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by 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.