Bridgewater Associates LP Boosts Holdings in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)

Bridgewater Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) by 82.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,701 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Euronet Worldwide were worth $4,975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 18,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,793,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,176 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,260,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 4,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $486,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 14.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $136.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Euronet Worldwide presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $127.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Euronet Worldwide

In other news, SVP Martin L. Bruckner sold 9,397 shares of Euronet Worldwide stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.31, for a total transaction of $1,008,392.07. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,983 shares in the company, valued at $4,290,575.73. This trade represents a 19.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Juan Bianchi sold 4,000 shares of Euronet Worldwide stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.58, for a total transaction of $410,320.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,440 shares in the company, valued at $1,276,095.20. This represents a 24.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,431 shares of company stock valued at $6,966,057 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 10.50% of the company’s stock.

Euronet Worldwide Price Performance

EEFT opened at $105.13 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.51 and a 1 year high of $117.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.46.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Euronet Worldwide had a net margin of 8.49% and a return on equity of 26.86%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Euronet Worldwide, Inc. will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

About Euronet Worldwide

Euronet Worldwide, Inc provides payment and transaction processing and distribution solutions to financial institutions, retailers, service providers, and individual consumers worldwide. It operates through three segments: Electronic Fund Transfer Processing, epay, and Money Transfer. The Electronic Fund Transfer Processing segment provides electronic payment solutions, including automated teller machine (ATM) cash withdrawal and deposit services, ATM network participation, outsourced ATM and point-of-sale (POS) management solutions, credit and debit and prepaid card outsourcing, card issuing, and merchant acquiring services.