Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Acquires New Holdings in EZCORP, Inc. $EZPW

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new stake in EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 10,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $139,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in EZCORP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of EZCORP by 60.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,062 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 1,906 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new stake in shares of EZCORP during the 1st quarter worth about $91,000. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of EZCORP by 652.4% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 7,637 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 6,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of EZCORP during the 1st quarter worth about $149,000. 99.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of EZCORP from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of EZCORP in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of EZCORP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.00.

EZCORP Stock Up 1.5%

NASDAQ EZPW opened at $18.85 on Wednesday. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.16. EZCORP, Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.02 and a 12 month high of $19.24. The company has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73 and a beta of 0.62.

EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) last released its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $310.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $302.25 million. EZCORP had a net margin of 7.96% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Equities research analysts expect that EZCORP, Inc. will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at EZCORP

In other news, Director Matthew W. Appel sold 9,038 shares of EZCORP stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were 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 $2,403,345.42. This trade represents a 6.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

EZCORP 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.