EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.00.

EZPW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of EZCORP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of EZCORP in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of EZCORP in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Stephens upped their price objective on EZCORP from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of EZCORP in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EZCORP

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EZPW. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in EZCORP by 577.1% in the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 44,558 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $865,000 after buying an additional 53,897 shares in the last quarter. HRT Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of EZCORP by 43.3% in the 4th quarter. HRT Financial LP now owns 432,035 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,390,000 after acquiring an additional 130,572 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of EZCORP by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,563,724 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $69,209,000 after acquiring an additional 84,566 shares during the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC now owns 25,763 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $500,000 after acquiring an additional 3,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas FRM LLC bought a new stake in EZCORP during the 4th quarter worth $6,312,000. 99.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EZCORP Trading Down 2.1%

EZPW stock opened at $24.34 on Friday. EZCORP has a 52 week low of $12.85 and a 52 week high of $26.35. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 4.69 and a current ratio of 6.03.

EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.15. EZCORP had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 9.18%.The company had revenue of $374.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.63 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that EZCORP will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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.