Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 36,677 Shares of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its stake in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,192,348 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 36,677 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 9.54% of Euronet Worldwide worth $431,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Euronet Worldwide in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide in the 4th quarter valued at $58,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Euronet Worldwide by 485.6% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 855 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 709 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 121.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 954 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Euronet Worldwide by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 989 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Brown sold 95,000 shares of Euronet Worldwide stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $142,875,686.54. The trade was a 6.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 10.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EEFT. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Euronet Worldwide from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective 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. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.86.

Euronet Worldwide Price Performance

NASDAQ:EEFT opened at $108.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.37. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.07 and a 1-year high of $117.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.56. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.23). Euronet Worldwide had a net margin of 7.69% and a return on equity of 27.74%. On average, research analysts expect that Euronet Worldwide, Inc. will post 9.11 EPS for the current fiscal 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.