Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Acquires 22,064 Shares of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) by 74.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,834 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,064 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Euronet Worldwide worth $5,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide during the fourth quarter worth $54,947,000. Ophir Asset Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Euronet Worldwide during the fourth quarter worth about $31,186,000. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Euronet Worldwide by 67.8% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 746,579 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $75,770,000 after acquiring an additional 301,771 shares during the period. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide during the 4th quarter worth about $23,728,000. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 51.2% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 579,334 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,797,000 after acquiring an additional 196,161 shares during the period. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Euronet Worldwide from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $124.11.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Performance

EEFT stock traded up $1.11 on Tuesday, reaching $101.40. 385,765 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 307,586. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $107.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.33. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.84 and a 12 month high of $117.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85 and a beta of 1.45.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The business services provider reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $986.20 million during 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%. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Euronet Worldwide, Inc. will post 7.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Euronet Worldwide Company 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.