Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,210,000 shares, an increase of 5.2% from the November 15th total of 1,150,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 277,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Euronet Worldwide

In other news, CEO Nikos Fountas sold 21,479 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.56, for a total value of $2,224,365.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,423,437.20. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kevin J. Caponecchi sold 52,034 shares of Euronet Worldwide stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $5,547,344.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,625,603.68. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 82,910 shares of company stock valued at $8,780,102. 10.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Euronet Worldwide

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Euronet Worldwide during the second quarter worth about $57,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $80,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $100,000. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 131.8% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,064 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 21.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,087 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EEFT. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lowered shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $118.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $136.00 price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.13.

Euronet Worldwide Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ EEFT opened at $103.46 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Euronet Worldwide has a twelve month low of $91.07 and a twelve month high of $117.66. The company’s fifty day moving average is $101.63 and its 200-day moving average is $102.67. The stock has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.44.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.11. Euronet Worldwide had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 8.49%. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.53 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Euronet Worldwide will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

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.