EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Susquehanna raised their price target on the stock from $35.00 to $39.00. Susquehanna currently has a neutral rating on the stock. EVERTEC traded as high as $38.35 and last traded at $38.29, with a volume of 21704 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.21.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on EVTC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on EVERTEC from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of EVERTEC in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on EVERTEC from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.00.

Insider Activity at EVERTEC

In other EVERTEC news, CEO Morgan M. Schuessler sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.45, for a total transaction of $2,996,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 282,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,567,341.40. This trade represents a 22.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Daniel Brignardello sold 7,641 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.60, for a total value of $279,660.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,277 shares in the company, valued at $1,144,738.20. This represents a 19.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 257,709 shares of company stock valued at $9,560,936 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EVERTEC

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EVTC. FMR LLC lifted its stake in EVERTEC by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,542,103 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $329,489,000 after buying an additional 427,859 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in EVERTEC by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,473,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $127,737,000 after purchasing an additional 65,793 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in EVERTEC by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,628,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,229,000 after purchasing an additional 32,330 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in EVERTEC by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,155,394 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,484,000 after purchasing an additional 33,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in EVERTEC by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 907,660 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,375,000 after purchasing an additional 60,484 shares in the last quarter. 96.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EVERTEC Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of 29.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.63.

EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $228.79 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $217.97 million. EVERTEC had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that EVERTEC, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

EVERTEC Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. EVERTEC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.05%.

EVERTEC Company Profile

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.