EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $35.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $33.00.

Separately, Susquehanna downgraded EVERTEC from a “neutral” rating to a “negative” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th.

EVERTEC Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:EVTC opened at $36.31 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 28.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.15. EVERTEC has a 52-week low of $28.76 and a 52-week high of $42.21. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The business services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $211.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.51 million. EVERTEC had a net margin of 10.20% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that EVERTEC will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EVERTEC Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 28th. EVERTEC’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Miguel Vizcarrondo sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.11, for a total value of $1,364,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 129,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,431,844.08. The trade was a 23.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EVERTEC

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EVTC. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in EVERTEC in the first quarter valued at $162,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of EVERTEC during the 1st quarter worth about $565,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in EVERTEC by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 69,385 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,769,000 after purchasing an additional 979 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its holdings in EVERTEC by 48.9% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 907 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in EVERTEC by 0.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,141,051 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $125,328,000 after buying an additional 9,110 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.80% of the company’s stock.

About EVERTEC

EVERTEC, Inc engages in transaction processing business and financial technology in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company operates through four segments: Payment Services – Puerto Rico & Caribbean; Latin America Payments and Solutions; Merchant Acquiring; and Business Solutions. It provides merchant acquiring services, which enable point of sales and e-commerce merchants to accept and process electronic methods of payment, such as debit, credit, prepaid, and electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards.