EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Shares of EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $32.34, but opened at $35.45. EVERTEC shares last traded at $36.17, with a volume of 113,959 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EVTC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of EVERTEC in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised EVERTEC from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded EVERTEC from a “negative” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, EVERTEC currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.67.

EVERTEC Trading Up 16.1 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $33.28 and a 200-day moving average of $33.70. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 29.27, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

EVERTEC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. EVERTEC’s payout ratio is 15.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Miguel Vizcarrondo sold 8,123 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.09, for a total transaction of $276,913.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 113,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,883,362.35. This represents a 6.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joaquin A. Castrillo-Salgado sold 48,453 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.08, for a total transaction of $1,748,184.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 54,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,984,327.84. This represents a 46.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 68,308 shares of company stock worth $2,440,112. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EVERTEC

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of EVERTEC by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,542,103 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $329,489,000 after acquiring an additional 427,859 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of EVERTEC by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,494,349 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $84,533,000 after acquiring an additional 34,410 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in EVERTEC by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,966,626 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $66,649,000 after purchasing an additional 5,899 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of EVERTEC by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,628,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,229,000 after buying an additional 32,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of EVERTEC by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 847,176 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,253,000 after purchasing an additional 7,073 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.80% of the company’s stock.

About EVERTEC

EVERTEC, Inc engages in transaction processing business and financial technology in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company operates through four segments: Payment Services – Puerto Rico & Caribbean; Latin America Payments and Solutions; Merchant Acquiring; and Business Solutions. It provides merchant acquiring services, which enable point of sales and e-commerce merchants to accept and process electronic methods of payment, such as debit, credit, prepaid, and electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards.