LPL Financial LLC Grows Holdings in EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC)

LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC - Free Report) by 151.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,091 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,696 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in EVERTEC were worth $728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in EVERTEC by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,174 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of EVERTEC by 199.0% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,193 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in EVERTEC by 55.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,148 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in EVERTEC by 34.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,188 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in EVERTEC in the fourth quarter worth about $208,000. 96.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of EVERTEC in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Susquehanna raised EVERTEC from a "negative" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

EVERTEC Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of EVTC traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $33.37. The company had a trading volume of 277,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 383,254. EVERTEC, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.76 and a 52 week high of $38.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

EVERTEC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. EVERTEC's payout ratio is currently 11.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Karla Cruz sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.77, for a total value of $73,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 18,065 shares in the company, valued at $664,250.05. The trade was a 9.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Paola Perez-Surillo sold 14,585 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.15, for a total transaction of $541,832.75. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 35,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,307,791.45. This represents a 29.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,170 shares of company stock worth $7,149,206 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.63% of the company's stock.

EVERTEC 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.