Villanova Investment Management Co LLC Grows Holdings in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)

Villanova Investment Management Co LLC increased its stake in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) by 10.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 33,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,261 shares during the period. Euronet Worldwide accounts for approximately 3.1% of Villanova Investment Management Co LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC’s holdings in Euronet Worldwide were worth $3,458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,236,000 after acquiring an additional 2,632 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Euronet Worldwide during the third quarter valued at approximately $666,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its position in Euronet Worldwide by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 627,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $64,496,000 after buying an additional 20,824 shares during the last quarter. Value Holdings Management CO. LLC grew its position in Euronet Worldwide by 119.8% in the fourth quarter. Value Holdings Management CO. LLC now owns 57,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,947,000 after buying an additional 31,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 2.0% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 11,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,164,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on EEFT shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $125.86.

Euronet Worldwide Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EEFT opened at $106.85 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.37. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. has a one year low of $91.07 and a one year high of $117.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Euronet Worldwide, Inc. will post 9.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Euronet Worldwide

In related news, CEO Michael J. Brown sold 95,000 shares of Euronet Worldwide 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 10.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.