EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW) Receives $18.50 Average Target Price from Brokerages

EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.50.

EZPW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised EZCORP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of EZCORP in a report on Friday, August 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Matthew W. Appel sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.03, for a total value of $153,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 142,409 shares in the company, valued at $2,425,225.27. This trade represents a 5.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of EZCORP by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,263,712 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $48,042,000 after buying an additional 9,968 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of EZCORP by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,321,138 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,217,000 after purchasing an additional 118,641 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of EZCORP by 289.7% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,569,488 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $23,499,000 after buying an additional 1,166,758 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of EZCORP by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,520,830 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $22,387,000 after buying an additional 359,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of EZCORP by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,455,869 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $21,430,000 after buying an additional 260,085 shares during the last quarter. 99.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EZCORP Price Performance

NASDAQ:EZPW opened at $17.89 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.00, a current ratio of 6.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $15.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.72. EZCORP has a 52 week low of $10.56 and a 52 week high of $17.90. The company has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.98 and a beta of 0.63.

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

About EZCORP

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.