Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on EEFT. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Wolfe Research raised shares of Euronet Worldwide from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, William Blair reissued an outperform rating on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $124.11.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Performance

Euronet Worldwide stock opened at $96.05 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $106.97. The company has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.33. Euronet Worldwide has a fifty-two week low of $73.84 and a fifty-two week high of $117.66.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The business services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $986.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Euronet Worldwide had a net margin of 7.46% and a return on equity of 27.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Euronet Worldwide will post 7.9 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Euronet Worldwide

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,434 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $146,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. bought a new stake in Euronet Worldwide in the 4th quarter valued at $101,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 37.7% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Cambiar Investors LLC boosted its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 78.5% in the 4th quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 124,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,605,000 after purchasing an additional 54,601 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 52.5% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,218 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,452 shares during the period. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.