Even Keel For Payments Stocks Seen This Past Week

Payments stocks showed an even keel this past week, generally split between winners and losers.

The gains and losses were evenly distributed between the low single digits, percentage-wise.

The biggest gains were notched by Net1 UEPS Technologies, Inc., which was up just under 4 percent. The stock traded higher on relatively light volume, with just a few thousand shares trading daily.

Total Systems shares gained 3.7 percent through the week, with news coming from the company that COO Pamela Joseph resigned. The company said that M. Troy Woods, the chairman and chief executive officer, had been elected by the board to the position of president.

PayPal was up 3.6 percent, with news coming that the company had invested in retail payments firm Raise. That investment came as part of an overall funding round that garnered Raise $60 million. Raise, reported The Chicago Tribune, is moving toward a model focused on mobile wallets.

Euronet shares were off 3.7 percent, down after financial headlines showed that Ant Financial is still trying to garner approval for its MoneyGram bid. Might investors be speculating about a renewed Euronet overture should Ant Financial not get the go-ahead from regulators to acquire MoneyGram?

Separately, Everi Holdings slipped 3.7 percent on no company-specific headlines.  Blackhawk Network Holdings slid 2.8 percent, with no news beyond that of the late August announcement that the firm had acquired CashStar for $175 million to bolster digital gift cards.