Evertec (NYSE:EVTC) Stock Bumped Up to Strong-Buy by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Evertec from “buy” to “strong-buy.” Despite the upgrade, the broader analyst consensus remains “hold,” with an average price target of $36.67.
• Evertec reported quarterly EPS of $1.07, beating the $0.98 consensus estimate, while revenue of $282.99 million exceeded forecasts and rose 23.8% year over year.
• Institutional investors own 96.8% of Evertec shares, while company insiders sold 165,580 shares worth about $5.69 million over the past 90 days.

Evertec (NYSE:EVTC - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on EVTC. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Evertec from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Evertec from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $34.00 target price on shares of Evertec in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Evertec has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.67.

Evertec Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EVTC opened at $33.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.71. Evertec has a 52 week low of $21.81 and a 52 week high of $35.28. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89.

Evertec (NYSE:EVTC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The business services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.09. Evertec had a return on equity of 32.07% and a net margin of 9.80%. The firm had revenue of $282.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $272.94 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Evertec will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Evertec news, Director Aldo J. Polak sold 1,094 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.37, for a total value of $33,224.78. Following the sale, the director owned 14,849 shares of the company's stock, valued at $450,964.13. The trade was a 6.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Paola Perez-Surillo sold 17,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.56, for a total transaction of $551,858.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,046.76. This represents a 27.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 165,580 shares of company stock worth $5,686,323. 1.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Evertec

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Evertec during the second quarter worth about $254,513,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Evertec during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,346,000. North Star Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Evertec in the 2nd quarter worth $22,489,000. Lone Peak Global Investors LLC increased its position in Evertec by 5.9% during the second quarter. Lone Peak Global Investors LLC now owns 584,685 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $16,243,000 after acquiring an additional 32,764 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Evertec during the 2nd quarter worth $12,700,000. 96.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Evertec Company Profile

Evertec, Inc is a payment processing and financial technology company that provides transaction-processing services and business technology solutions to financial institutions, merchants, government agencies and other organizations. The company operates through businesses that support electronic payments, merchant acquiring, payment networks and related financial services.

Its products and services include debit and credit card processing, point-of-sale and e-commerce payment acceptance, automated teller machine processing, prepaid services, electronic bill payment and money transfer solutions.

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