Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) was in 15 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. EEFT shareholders have witnessed an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers in recent months. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with EEFT holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are plenty of motivations for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if investors understand what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the recent action surrounding Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT).
How have hedgies been trading Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)?
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 25% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the biggest position in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT), worth close to $13.4 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by David Dreman of Dreman Value Management, with a $9.7 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
As one would reasonably expect, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, assembled the most outsized position in Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT). Millennium Management had 2.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp also initiated a $0.6 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new EEFT investors: Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, and Mike Vranos’s Ellington.
What have insiders been doing with Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT). These stocks are Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY), Cardtronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CATM), SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX), Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG), and VistaPrint Limited (NASDAQ:VPRT). This group of stocks belong to the business services industry and their market caps resemble EEFT’s market cap.
