Prudential Financial Inc. Lowers Holdings in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its position in shares of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) by 47.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 85,852 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 77,698 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.20% of Euronet Worldwide worth $8,747,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 0.6% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 25,674 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,540,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 4,790 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $493,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,469 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $768,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Euronet Worldwide by 21.6% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,087 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Euronet Worldwide by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 23,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,394,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Euronet Worldwide

In other news, CEO Michael J. Brown sold 95,000 shares of Euronet Worldwide stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.69, for a total transaction of $9,565,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,418,966 shares in the company, valued at $142,875,686.54. The trade was a 6.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 10.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EEFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 22nd. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Euronet Worldwide from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Euronet Worldwide from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.86.

Euronet Worldwide Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Euronet Worldwide stock opened at $107.13 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $101.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.39. The company has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.07 and a 1 year high of $117.66.

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.23). Euronet Worldwide had a return on equity of 27.74% and a net margin of 7.69%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Euronet Worldwide, Inc. will post 9.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Euronet Worldwide Profile

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.