Consumer Portfolio Services (NASDAQ:CPSS) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Consumer Portfolio Services (NASDAQ:CPSS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday.

Consumer Portfolio Services Stock Performance

Shares of CPSS stock opened at $10.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $226.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.52, a quick ratio of 19.16 and a current ratio of 19.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.44. Consumer Portfolio Services has a 52 week low of $7.03 and a 52 week high of $12.04.

Consumer Portfolio Services (NASDAQ:CPSS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.01). Consumer Portfolio Services had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 5.59%. The firm had revenue of $100.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.34 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Consumer Portfolio Services will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William B. Roberts sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.45, for a total transaction of $156,750.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 700,078 shares in the company, valued at $7,315,815.10. This represents a 2.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Greg Washer sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.50, for a total value of $380,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 275,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,621,819.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 262,256 shares of company stock valued at $2,667,334 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 69.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CPSS. Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Consumer Portfolio Services during the third quarter worth $960,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in shares of Consumer Portfolio Services in the third quarter valued at $445,000. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Consumer Portfolio Services by 297.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 11,794 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 8,828 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Consumer Portfolio Services by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 142,520 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,337,000 after purchasing an additional 7,236 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Consumer Portfolio Services by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 186,220 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,747,000 after purchasing an additional 3,922 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.57% of the company’s stock.

About Consumer Portfolio Services

Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc operates as a specialty finance company in the United States. It is involved in the purchase and service of retail automobile contracts originated by franchised automobile dealers and select independent dealers in the sale of new and used automobiles, light trucks, and passenger vans.