Weitz Investment Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. $EEFT

Key Points

• Weitz Investment Management initiated a 160,000-share position in Euronet Worldwide valued at approximately $11.7 million, while institutional investors collectively own 91.6% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: the stock has a consensus “Hold” rating and a $96 price target, despite Buy ratings from DA Davidson and Needham.
• Euronet reported quarterly earnings of $2.82 per share, below the $2.93 analyst consensus, although revenue increased 3.2% year over year; shares recently traded at $70.07.

Weitz Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 160,000 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $11,710,000. Weitz Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.42% of Euronet Worldwide as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EEFT. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Euronet Worldwide during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $244,726,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 933.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,993,682 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $151,739,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800,837 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 131.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,308,267 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $132,632,000 after acquiring an additional 744,040 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 44.9% during the first quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,847,040 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $122,588,000 after acquiring an additional 572,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Euronet Worldwide during the fourth quarter worth $37,523,000. 91.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EEFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Euronet Worldwide from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $96.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas A. Mcdonnell bought 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $66.87 per share, for a total transaction of $200,610.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 100,219 shares in the company, valued at $6,701,644.53. This trade represents a 3.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 12.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Euronet Worldwide Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:EEFT opened at $70.07 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.82. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $73.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.39. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.50 and a 1 year high of $98.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.93 by ($0.11). Euronet Worldwide had a return on equity of 28.60% and a net margin of 6.63%.During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. Euronet Worldwide's revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Euronet Worldwide, Inc. will post 9.55 EPS for the current year.

Euronet Worldwide Profile

Euronet Worldwide, Inc is a global financial technology company specializing in electronic payment services and transaction processing. Through its three primary business segments—Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Network Services, epay® Prepaid and Payment Services, and Money Transfer—Euronet provides end-to-end solutions that enable secure, efficient and convenient payments for consumers, financial institutions and retailers worldwide.

In its EFT Network Services arm, Euronet operates one of the world's largest ATM and point-of-sale (POS) terminal networks, offering deployment, management and connectivity services.

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