EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) Hits New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $19.41 and last traded at $19.31, with a volume of 586815 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $18.97.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on EZPW. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of EZCORP in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on EZCORP from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.00.

EZCORP Stock Up 1.8%

The firm has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 0.62. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $17.16 and a 200-day moving average of $15.30.

EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that EZCORP, Inc. will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at EZCORP

In other news, Director Matthew W. Appel sold 9,038 shares of the company’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 owned 133,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,403,345.42. This represents a 6.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EZCORP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of EZCORP by 0.9% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 73,064 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in EZCORP by 7.4% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 13,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after acquiring an additional 926 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in EZCORP by 60.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,062 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 1,906 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in EZCORP by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 31,003 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in EZCORP during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.83% of the company’s stock.

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.