EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

Shares of EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $34.61, but opened at $38.04. EVERTEC shares last traded at $36.96, with a volume of 31,566 shares.

The business services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $228.79 million during 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%. EVERTEC’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS.

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 paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. EVERTEC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EVTC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna raised EVERTEC from a “negative” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of EVERTEC in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of EVERTEC from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of EVERTEC from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Paola Perez-Surillo sold 14,585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.15, for a total transaction of $541,832.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,203 shares in the company, valued at $1,307,791.45. This represents a 29.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Morgan M. Schuessler sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.45, for a total value of $2,996,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 282,172 shares in the company, valued at $10,567,341.40. This represents a 22.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,170 shares of company stock valued at $7,149,206 over the last 90 days. 0.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EVERTEC

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in EVERTEC by 385.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 115,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,910,000 after acquiring an additional 91,632 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of EVERTEC by 11.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 337,776 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,447,000 after purchasing an additional 33,462 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of EVERTEC by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. now owns 40,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,381,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of EVERTEC by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in EVERTEC by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.80% of the company’s stock.

EVERTEC Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

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.