Leuthold Group LLC Purchases Shares of 2,184 Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)

Leuthold Group LLC acquired a new stake in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,184 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in Euronet Worldwide by 45.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 716,539 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $71,102,000 after buying an additional 224,982 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Euronet Worldwide during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $15,258,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Euronet Worldwide by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $105,604,000 after buying an additional 127,240 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Euronet Worldwide during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,373,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Euronet Worldwide during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,085,000. 91.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EEFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Euronet Worldwide from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Euronet Worldwide from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Four equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Euronet Worldwide currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $127.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Martin L. Bruckner sold 9,397 shares of Euronet Worldwide stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.31, for a total value of $1,008,392.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,290,575.73. The trade was a 19.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kevin J. Caponecchi sold 52,034 shares of Euronet Worldwide stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,625,603.68. This trade represents a 36.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 82,910 shares of company stock worth $8,780,102. 10.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EEFT opened at $101.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.21. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.07 and a 1 year high of $117.66. The company has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.43.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.23). Euronet Worldwide had a return on equity of 27.74% and a net margin of 7.69%. On average, analysts expect that Euronet Worldwide, Inc. will post 9.11 earnings per share for the current 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.