EP Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $212,000 in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,139 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 18,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,793,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 25,674 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,540,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 4,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $486,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Up 0.1 %

EEFT stock opened at $103.46 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a PE ratio of 14.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $101.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.73. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.07 and a fifty-two week high of $117.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business earned $2.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Euronet Worldwide, Inc. will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on EEFT. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Citigroup lowered Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $118.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Euronet Worldwide presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.13.

Insider Activity at Euronet Worldwide

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

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.