EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of EZCORP in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. They set a “market outperform” rating and a $23.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities set a $23.00 price objective on EZCORP in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of EZCORP in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of EZCORP in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of EZCORP in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.17.

EZCORP Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of EZCORP stock opened at $21.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 5.61 and a quick ratio of 4.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.42. EZCORP has a 1 year low of $11.60 and a 1 year high of $21.99. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.55.

EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The credit services provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $335.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $325.09 million. EZCORP had a net margin of 8.60% and a return on equity of 12.00%. Equities research analysts predict that EZCORP will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 73,064 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after buying an additional 648 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in EZCORP by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 80,959 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased 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 purchasing an additional 926 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in shares of EZCORP by 4.7% during the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 22,484 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of EZCORP by 9.2% during the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 13,013 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. 99.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EZCORP Company Profile

EZCORP, Inc is a specialty consumer finance company that provides pawn loans and retail merchandise programs primarily through its EZPAWN and Cash Converters brands. The company offers collateral-based loans secured principally by jewelry, electronics, musical instruments and other personal items, alongside check-cashing, money-transfer and bill-payment services. In addition to its pawn lending operations, EZCORP acquires previously pawned or consumer merchandise for resale through its “Sell-It-Now” platform and retail storefronts.

Founded in 1989 and headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, EZCORP operates in two principal geographic markets: the United States and Mexico.