Short Interest in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) Grows By 8.0%

Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,350,000 shares, an increase of 8.0% from the December 15th total of 1,250,000 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 263,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EEFT. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $136.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Citigroup lowered shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $118.00 to $110.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.25.

Euronet Worldwide Price Performance

EEFT traded down $0.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $99.52. 180,980 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 234,857. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.42. Euronet Worldwide has a 1 year low of $91.07 and a 1 year high of $117.66.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Euronet Worldwide had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 8.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Euronet Worldwide will post 7.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kevin J. Caponecchi sold 52,034 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total transaction of $5,547,344.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,288 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,603.68. The trade was a 36.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikos Fountas sold 21,479 shares of Euronet Worldwide stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.56, for a total value of $2,224,365.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,423,437.20. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 82,910 shares of company stock valued at $8,780,102 in the last quarter. Insiders own 10.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Euronet Worldwide

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,921 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Euronet Worldwide by 21.5% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 9,241 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 15.2% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,521 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 862 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 17.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 755,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $78,172,000 after buying an additional 113,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 8.2% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 148,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,380,000 after buying an additional 11,255 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

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.