EVERTEC (NYSE:EVTC) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

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 changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna raised shares of EVERTEC from a “negative” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $28.00 to $30.00 in a report on Thursday. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of EVERTEC in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded 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 report on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.67.

EVERTEC Stock Performance

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 company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.70.

EVERTEC Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. EVERTEC’s payout ratio is 15.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Miguel Vizcarrondo sold 8,123 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.09, for a total value of $276,913.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joaquin A. Castrillo-Salgado sold 48,453 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.08, for a total transaction of $1,748,184.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 54,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,984,327.84. This trade represents a 46.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 68,308 shares of company stock worth $2,440,112. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of EVERTEC

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EVTC. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of EVERTEC by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in EVERTEC by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,747 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of EVERTEC by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 68,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,375,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of EVERTEC by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 10,645 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in EVERTEC by 4,525.0% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 740 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. 96.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.