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

Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $126.25.

EEFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $136.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Euronet Worldwide news, CEO Nikos Fountas sold 21,479 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 available at this link. Also, CEO Kevin J. Caponecchi sold 52,034 shares of the company’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 value of $5,547,344.74. Following the completion of 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 82,910 shares of company stock worth $8,780,102 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Euronet Worldwide

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Euronet Worldwide by 121.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 954 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Euronet Worldwide during the 3rd quarter worth about $100,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,087 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Euronet Worldwide in the 3rd quarter valued at about $109,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 131.8% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,064 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. 91.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Euronet Worldwide Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EEFT opened at $99.90 on Friday. 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 0.88, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $103.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.76. The stock has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.44.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.11. Euronet Worldwide had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 8.49%. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.53 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Euronet Worldwide will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.