EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $32.34, but opened at $35.45. EVERTEC shares last traded at $36.17, with a volume of 113,959 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EVTC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of EVERTEC in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna upgraded shares of EVERTEC from a “negative” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of EVERTEC from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 21st.

EVERTEC Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.76.

EVERTEC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. EVERTEC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.56%.

Insider Transactions at EVERTEC

In other news, EVP Daniel Brignardello sold 3,842 shares of EVERTEC stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total value of $138,312.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,481 shares in the company, valued at $1,169,316. The trade was a 10.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Miguel Vizcarrondo sold 8,123 shares of EVERTEC stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.09, for a total transaction of $276,913.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 113,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,883,362.35. This represents a 6.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,308 shares of company stock worth $2,440,112 over the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of EVERTEC

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EVTC. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of EVERTEC by 4,525.0% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 740 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 724 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of EVERTEC in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of EVERTEC by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EVERTEC by 199.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of EVERTEC in the fourth quarter worth approximately $54,000. 96.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About EVERTEC

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.