Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Stake in EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 155,105 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,356,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.24% of EVERTEC as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EVTC. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in EVERTEC by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,174 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of EVERTEC by 199.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,193 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of EVERTEC by 55.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,148 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in EVERTEC by 34.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,188 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on EVTC. Susquehanna upgraded shares of EVERTEC from a "negative" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of EVERTEC in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

EVERTEC Price Performance

Shares of EVTC stock traded up $0.83 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $34.15. 292,969 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 382,894. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.00. EVERTEC, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.76 and a twelve month high of $38.70. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $35.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.34.

EVERTEC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. EVERTEC's payout ratio is 11.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other EVERTEC news, CEO Morgan M. Schuessler sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.45, for a total value of $2,996,000.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Karla Cruz sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.77, for a total transaction of $73,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 18,065 shares of the company's stock, valued at $664,250.05. This trade represents a 9.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 191,170 shares of company stock valued at $7,149,206. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company's stock.

About EVERTEC

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.