Montag & Caldwell LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)

Montag & Caldwell LLC grew its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,994 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the quarter. Montag & Caldwell LLC’s holdings in Euronet Worldwide were worth $719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Euronet Worldwide by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 11,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Euronet Worldwide by 7.0% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 16.2% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $146,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Euronet Worldwide by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $714,000 after acquiring an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 33,921 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,359,000 after acquiring an additional 6,154 shares in the last quarter. 91.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Euronet Worldwide Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of EEFT stock opened at $95.73 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.18. The company has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.18. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. has a 1-year low of $85.24 and a 1-year high of $117.66.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Brown sold 95,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.69, for a total transaction of $9,565,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,418,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,875,686.54. This represents a 6.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 10.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Euronet Worldwide from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $125.86.

Euronet Worldwide Profile

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.