First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in EZCORP, Inc. $EZPW

First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. reduced its stake in EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,258,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 52,673 shares during the period. EZCORP accounts for about 8.5% of First Wilshire Securities Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc.’s holdings in EZCORP were worth $31,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EZPW. Rhumbline Advisers lifted 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 worth $1,014,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 926 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in shares of EZCORP by 7.7% during the second quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 31,003 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,208 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of EZCORP during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of EZCORP by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 39,760 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $585,000 after acquiring an additional 3,393 shares during the period. 99.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on EZPW. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of EZCORP in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on EZCORP in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. They issued a “market outperform” rating and a $23.00 target price for the company. JMP Securities set a $23.00 price target on EZCORP in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on EZCORP from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of EZCORP in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.50.

EZCORP Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EZPW opened at $20.14 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.37, a current ratio of 5.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.28 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.14. EZCORP, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.56 and a 52-week high of $20.29.

EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) last announced its 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. EZCORP had a return on equity of 12.00% and a net margin of 8.60%.The business had revenue of $335.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $325.09 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that EZCORP, Inc. will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at EZCORP

In other EZCORP news, Director Matthew W. Appel sold 9,038 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.02, for a total transaction of $162,864.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

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.