EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC) Short Interest Down 15.3% in February

EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE:EVTC) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,820,000 shares, a decline of 15.3% from the January 31st total of 2,150,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 293,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.2 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on EVTC shares. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of EVERTEC in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of EVERTEC from a “negative” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of EVERTEC from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 21st.

EVERTEC Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:EVTC traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $37.03. The company had a trading volume of 130,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 325,687. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.89. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.15. EVERTEC has a 52 week low of $28.76 and a 52 week high of $40.67.

EVERTEC Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. EVERTEC’s payout ratio is 11.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other EVERTEC news, EVP Miguel Vizcarrondo sold 8,123 shares of EVERTEC 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 113,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,883,362.35. The trade was a 6.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EVERTEC

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in EVERTEC by 4,525.0% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 740 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 724 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of EVERTEC during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted 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. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of EVERTEC by 199.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of EVERTEC in the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. 96.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.