Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Acquires 63,785 Shares of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) by 57.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 175,027 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 63,785 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Euronet Worldwide were worth $18,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Euronet Worldwide in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Euronet Worldwide in the fourth quarter worth about $58,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Euronet Worldwide by 485.6% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 855 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 709 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 121.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 954 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Euronet Worldwide by 26.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 989 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. 91.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EEFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Euronet Worldwide from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Four investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.86.

Insider Transactions at Euronet Worldwide

In other news, CEO Michael J. Brown sold 95,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $142,875,686.54. This represents a 6.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 10.50% of the company’s stock.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Performance

Shares of Euronet Worldwide stock opened at $93.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.56. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. has a one year low of $91.07 and a one year high of $117.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.23). Euronet Worldwide had a return on equity of 27.74% and a net margin of 7.69%. Research analysts expect that Euronet Worldwide, Inc. will post 9.11 EPS 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.