EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Shares of EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $34.84, but opened at $36.13. EVERTEC shares last traded at $35.90, with a volume of 26,874 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on EVTC. Morgan Stanley upgraded EVERTEC from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday. Susquehanna cut shares of EVERTEC from a “neutral” rating to a “negative” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th.

EVERTEC Stock Up 4.4 %

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The business services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.20%. EVERTEC’s quarterly revenue was up 22.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that EVERTEC, Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

EVERTEC Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 28th. EVERTEC’s dividend payout ratio is 15.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other EVERTEC news, EVP Miguel Vizcarrondo sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.11, for a total value of $1,364,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 129,928 shares in the company, valued at $4,431,844.08. This represents a 23.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of EVERTEC

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in EVERTEC by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 35,084 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,191,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of EVERTEC by 1.3% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 32,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its holdings in EVERTEC by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in EVERTEC by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 18,323 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after buying an additional 561 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in EVERTEC by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 31,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.80% of the company’s stock.

EVERTEC Company Profile

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.