EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $19.00.

EZPW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on EZCORP from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen raised EZCORP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of EZCORP in a research note on Wednesday.

EZCORP Price Performance

EZCORP stock opened at $18.49 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $16.99 and its 200 day moving average is $15.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 6.31 and a quick ratio of 5.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.45 and a beta of 0.62. EZCORP has a one year low of $11.09 and a one year high of $19.25.

EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $310.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $302.25 million. EZCORP had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 7.96%. As a group, research analysts expect that EZCORP will post 1.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at EZCORP

In other EZCORP news, Director Matthew W. Appel sold 9,038 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.02, for a total value of $162,864.76. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 133,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,403,345.42. The trade was a 6.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EZCORP

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in EZCORP by 113.2% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 290,793 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after buying an additional 154,386 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 24.8% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 180,130 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,500,000 after acquiring an additional 35,758 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 115.0% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 71,945 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $999,000 after acquiring an additional 38,475 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 178.1% during the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 11,069 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP increased its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 23.0% during the second quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 30,271 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 5,665 shares in the last quarter. 99.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EZCORP Company Profile

EZCORP, Inc provides pawn services in the United States and Latin America. The company operates through three segments: U.S. Pawn, Latin America Pawn, and Other Investments. The company offers pawn loans collateralized by tangible personal property, jewelry, consumer electronics, tools, sporting goods, and musical instruments.