North Star Asset Management Inc. Purchases 21,645 Shares of 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 holdings in shares of Evertec, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 815,816 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 21,645 shares during the period. Evertec comprises about 1.4% of North Star Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. North Star Asset Management Inc. owned 1.27% of Evertec worth $29,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EVTC. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Evertec by 4,525.0% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 740 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 724 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Evertec by 39.2% in the first 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. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Evertec in the fourth quarter valued at about $54,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Evertec by 44.7% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,699 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Evertec by 19.3% in the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,855 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 96.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evertec

In other Evertec news, Director Ivan Pagan sold 6,852 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.65, for a total value of $251,125.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,473 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $457,135.45. This represents a 35.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Miguel Vizcarrondo sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.44, for a total transaction of $1,457,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 92,509 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,371,027.96. The trade was a 30.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 75,634 shares of company stock valued at $2,742,976 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company's stock.

Evertec Trading Down 3.9%

Shares of EVTC traded down $1.42 on Friday, reaching $34.73. 525,976 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 321,589. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.98. Evertec, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.11 and a 12 month high of $38.56.

Evertec (NYSE:EVTC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $229.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $222.23 million. Evertec had a net margin of 15.56% and a return on equity of 38.58%. Evertec's revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Evertec, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Evertec Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Evertec's payout ratio is 10.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on EVTC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Evertec in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $43.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Evertec in a research note on Thursday. Susquehanna set a $39.00 target price on shares of Evertec and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Evertec from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Evertec from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $39.00.

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.