Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on EEFT. Wolfe Research upgraded Euronet Worldwide from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Euronet Worldwide from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup increased their target price on Euronet Worldwide from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. William Blair reiterated an outperform rating on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Euronet Worldwide from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Euronet Worldwide presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $124.11.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Performance

EEFT opened at $100.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.83. Euronet Worldwide has a 1-year low of $73.84 and a 1-year high of $117.66.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The business services provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $986.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Euronet Worldwide had a return on equity of 27.81% and a net margin of 7.46%. Euronet Worldwide’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Euronet Worldwide will post 7.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Euronet Worldwide in the 4th quarter worth $23,728,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in Euronet Worldwide by 65.3% in the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 46,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,690,000 after purchasing an additional 18,262 shares during the period. Granahan Investment Management LLC raised its position in Euronet Worldwide by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 221,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,435,000 after purchasing an additional 16,358 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Euronet Worldwide by 4.5% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 567,058 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,337,000 after purchasing an additional 24,566 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide during the first quarter valued at about $1,638,000. 91.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.