Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Buys Shares of 18,124 EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW)

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 18,124 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $158,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in EZCORP by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 499,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,018,000 after acquiring an additional 3,614 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of EZCORP during the first quarter valued at $62,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of EZCORP by 221.6% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 20,201 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 13,919 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in EZCORP by 15.1% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 46,172 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 6,049 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in EZCORP by 3.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,038,266 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $54,591,000 after purchasing an additional 293,054 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.83% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at EZCORP

In other news, CRO Nicole Swies sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.38, for a total transaction of $25,605.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 71,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $813,192.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EZPW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of EZCORP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 29th. TheStreet upgraded shares of EZCORP from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on EZCORP from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

EZCORP Price Performance

Shares of EZCORP stock opened at $11.20 on Friday. EZCORP, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.70 and a 52 week high of $11.40. The company has a current ratio of 4.00, a quick ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $617.68 million, a PE ratio of 17.78 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $10.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.32.

EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.07. EZCORP had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The company had revenue of $299.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $303.66 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that EZCORP, Inc. will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.