Insider Selling: EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) Director Sells $320,000.00 in Stock

EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW) Director Pablo Lagos Espinosa sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $320,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 217,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,961,376. The trade was a 4.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

EZCORP Price Performance

EZPW stock opened at $29.04 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78 and a beta of 0.63. EZCORP, Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.85 and a twelve month high of $37.13. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.61. The company has a current ratio of 4.71, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $434.90 million during the quarter. EZCORP had a return on equity of 13.45% and a net margin of 9.91%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that EZCORP, Inc. will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EZCORP

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EZPW. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,167,748 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $61,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019,622 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 70.2% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,063,677 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $14,764,000 after purchasing an additional 438,542 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 28.5% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,975,421 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $37,612,000 after purchasing an additional 437,601 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 89.2% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 785,131 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $15,247,000 after purchasing an additional 370,103 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 11.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,610,029 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $68,735,000 after purchasing an additional 369,817 shares during the period. 99.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of EZCORP in a report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of EZCORP in a report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings raised EZCORP from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research raised EZCORP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised EZCORP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.25.

About EZCORP

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.