Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.23 EPS

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.23), Zacks reports. Euronet Worldwide had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 8.49%.

Euronet Worldwide Price Performance

NASDAQ:EEFT traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $104.79. 247,440 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 293,652. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $100.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.85. Euronet Worldwide has a one year low of $91.07 and a one year high of $117.66.

Insider Activity

In other Euronet Worldwide news, CEO Nikos Fountas sold 21,479 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.56, for a total value of $2,224,365.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,423,437.20. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Martin L. Bruckner sold 9,397 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.31, for a total value of $1,008,392.07. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,290,575.73. This trade represents a 19.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 82,910 shares of company stock worth $8,780,102 over the last 90 days. 10.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on EEFT. StockNews.com lowered Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup lowered shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Euronet Worldwide from $135.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Euronet Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Euronet Worldwide in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.00.

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.