Here’s Why Artisan Partners Trimmed its EVO Payments (EVOP) Position

Artisan Partners, a high value-added investment management firm, published its ‘Artisan Small Cap Fund’ third quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. A return of -1.20% was recorded by its Investor Class: ARTSX, -1.17% by its Advisor Class: APDSX, and -1.13% by its Institutional Class: APHSX for the third quarter of 2021, all above the Russell 2000® Growth Index that delivered a -5.65% return and the Russell 2000® Index that was down by -4.36% for the same period. You can take a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to have an idea about their best picks for 2021.

Artisan Small Cap Fund, in its Q3 2021 investor letter, mentioned EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOP) and discussed its stance on the firm. EVO Payments, Inc. is an Atlanta, Georgia-based IT service management company with a $1.0 billion market capitalization. EVOP delivered a -15.36% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -11.70%. The stock closed at $22.86 per share on December 03, 2021.

Here is what Artisan Small Cap Fund has to say about EVO Payments, Inc.  in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“We trimmed our positions in EVO Payments. EVO Payments provides the distribution and technology needed for emerging market banks and software providers to process electronic payments. The company targets markets with low penetration of card payments and a regulatory push to reduce cash payments. Furthermore, it partners with leading local banks with established merchant relationships with the goal of increasing merchant acceptance through implementing EVO’s technology and distribution methodologies. When we began our investment campaign, we believed the company’s exposure to these markets would enable it to grow its reach, and as it gained scale, expand its margins towards its peers. The top-line growth opportunity has failed to materialize, and the margin expansion thesis has run its course. As a result, we have been harvesting our position.”

Photo by Danial Igdery on Unsplash

Based on our calculations, EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOP) was not able to clinch a spot in our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. EVOP was in 9 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 9 funds in the previous quarter. EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOP) delivered a -9.36% return in the past 3 months.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.