Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Decreases Stock Position in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lessened its stake in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) by 51.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 20,911 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Euronet Worldwide were worth $2,059,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EEFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Euronet Worldwide during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $53,072,000. Voss Capital LP boosted its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 630,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $64,789,000 after buying an additional 113,236 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 59.0% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 190,612 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $19,602,000 after buying an additional 70,719 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 57.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 175,027 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,000,000 after buying an additional 63,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 248,345 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,540,000 after buying an additional 55,345 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Euronet Worldwide news, CEO Michael J. Brown sold 95,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.69, for a total value of $9,565,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,418,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,875,686.54. This trade represents a 6.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on EEFT. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Euronet Worldwide from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Euronet Worldwide from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $125.57.

Euronet Worldwide Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EEFT opened at $109.52 on Friday. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. has a 1-year low of $85.24 and a 1-year high of $117.66. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $101.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.25.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.13. Euronet Worldwide had a return on equity of 27.74% and a net margin of 7.69%. The firm had revenue of $915.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $908.93 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Euronet Worldwide, Inc. will post 9.11 EPS 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.