Ameriprise Financial Inc. Purchases 166,997 Shares of EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC - Free Report) by 41.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 568,797 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 166,997 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.89% of EVERTEC worth $19,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EVTC. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in EVERTEC by 385.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 115,398 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,910,000 after acquiring an additional 91,632 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. boosted its position in EVERTEC by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. now owns 40,000 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,381,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in EVERTEC by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,269 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,045,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in EVERTEC by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,174 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in EVERTEC by 55.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,148 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. 96.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EVTC. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of EVERTEC in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on EVERTEC from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of EVERTEC from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on EVERTEC from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, EVERTEC has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at EVERTEC

In related news, EVP Daniel Brignardello sold 7,641 shares of EVERTEC stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.60, for a total transaction of $279,660.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,277 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,144,738.20. This trade represents a 19.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Morgan M. Schuessler sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.45, for a total transaction of $2,996,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 282,172 shares in the company, valued at $10,567,341.40. This represents a 22.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 257,709 shares of company stock valued at $9,560,936 in the last 90 days. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

EVERTEC Price Performance

Shares of EVTC traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $38.36. 39,558 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 384,145. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of 30.05, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.66. EVERTEC, Inc. has a one year low of $28.76 and a one year high of $38.56.

EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. EVERTEC had a net margin of 10.20% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business had revenue of $228.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $217.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that EVERTEC, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

EVERTEC Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. EVERTEC's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.05%.

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.