North Star Asset Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Evertec, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC)

Key Points

• North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Evertec, Inc. by 2.7%, acquiring an additional 21,645 shares to a total of 815,816 shares, which makes Evertec the 20th largest holding in their portfolio.
• Several institutional investors modified their holdings in Evertec, with Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosting its stake by 41.6%, while overall institutional ownership of the company stands at 96.80%.
• Evertec recently reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, exceeding analysts' consensus estimate of $0.81, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share, reflecting a 0.61% dividend yield.

North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Evertec, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC - Free Report) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 815,816 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 21,645 shares during the quarter. Evertec makes up 1.4% of North Star Asset Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. North Star Asset Management Inc. owned 1.27% of Evertec worth $29,998,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Evertec by 19.3% during the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,855 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Evertec by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,747 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Evertec by 39.2% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,522 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Evertec by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,699 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Evertec by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 10,645 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EVTC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $43.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Evertec in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Evertec from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Susquehanna set a $39.00 target price on Evertec and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Evertec in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Evertec from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $39.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Evertec news, EVP Luis A. Rodriguez-Gonzalez sold 18,898 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.69, for a total value of $674,469.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 35,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,256,395.07. This trade represents a 34.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Aldo J. Polak sold 2,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.72, for a total transaction of $80,119.96. Following the sale, the director owned 11,946 shares in the company, valued at $426,711.12. The trade was a 15.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 75,634 shares of company stock worth $2,742,976 over the last 90 days. 0.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Evertec Price Performance

Shares of EVTC stock traded down $1.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $34.73. The company had a trading volume of 525,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 367,469. Evertec, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.11 and a 12-month high of $38.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 2.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.38, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.59 and a 200-day moving average of $34.99.

Evertec (NYSE:EVTC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. Evertec had a net margin of 15.56% and a return on equity of 36.67%. The business had revenue of $229.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $222.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Evertec, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Evertec Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Evertec's payout ratio is currently 10.05%.

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.