SSgA Funds Management, Inc. recently announced the acquisition of new stake in World Acceptance Corporation (NASDAQ:WRLD). The institutional investor has increased its shareholding in the Financial company by 0.29% to 0.13 million shares with purchase of 388.0 shares. This fresh investment now brings its stake to 2.13% valued currently at $8.78 million. In addition, Jacobs Levy Equity Management, In raised its holdings by 76432.0 to 91027.0 shares. And Geode Capital Management LLC has lifted its position by 1.17% or 850.0 shares – to 73333.0 shares.
With over 77083.0 World Acceptance Corporation (WRLD) shares trading Tuesday and a closing price of $80.25 on the day, the dollar volume was approximately $6.19 million. The shares have shown a negative half year performance of -33.11% and its price on 01/24/23 lost nearly -2.13%. Currently, there are 5.73M common shares owned by the public and among those 5.72M shares have been available to trade.
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An analysis of what Wall Street brokers have to say about the expected price targets for this stock gives us this picture: 3 analysts who have offered their price forecasts for WRLD have a consensus price objective of $59.33. The analysts have set the share’s price value over the next 12 months at a high of $79.00 and a low of $46.00. The average price target is -35.26% below its recent price level and a downside to the estimated low will see the stock lose -74.46% over that period. But a downside of -1.58% will see the stock hit the forecast high price target while median target price for the stock is $53.00.
Insiders at the company have transacted a total of 8 times over the past 12 months, according to data filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 0 of these insider trades were purchases, accounting for 0 shares. Insider sales of the common stock occurred on 8 occasions, with total insider shares sold totaling 17,566 shares.
The top 3 mutual fund holders in World Acceptance Corporation are iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF, Vanguard Total Stock Market Index, and Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund. iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF owns 0.24 million shares of the company’s stock, all valued at over $16.13 million. The company sold 184.0 shares recently to bring their total holdings to about 3.91% of the shares outstanding. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index bought 41300.0 shares to see its total holdings expand to 0.14 million shares valued at over $9.04 million and representing 2.19% of the shares outstanding. Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund bought 24551.0 shares to bring its total holdings to over 0.1 million shares at a value of $6.91 million. Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund now owns shares totaling to 1.68% of the shares outstanding.
Shares of World Acceptance Corporation (NASDAQ: WRLD) opened at $81.89, down -$0.11 from a prior closing price of $82.00. However, the script later moved the day high at 82.88, down -2.13%. The company’s stock has a 5-day price change of -0.90% and -23.91% over the past three months. WRLD shares are trading 21.70% year to date (YTD), with the 12-month market performance down to -61.52% lower. It has a 12-month low price of $58.44 and touched a high of $228.70 over the same period. WRLD has an average intraday trading volume of 85.53K shares. The stock is trading above its simple moving averages at the SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200, as the current price level is off by 12.68%, 14.03%, and -28.97% respectively.
Institutional ownership of World Acceptance Corporation (NASDAQ: WRLD) shares accounts for 89.30% of the company’s 5.73M shares outstanding. Mutual fund holders own 62.03%, while other institutional holders and individual stakeholders account for 84.44% and 26.88% respectively.
It has a market capitalization of $478.29M and a beta (3y monthly) value of 1.19. The stock’s trailing 12-month PE ratio is 34.22, while the earnings-per-share (ttm) stands at $2.35. The company has a PEG of 22.81 and the debt-to-equity ratio at 2.09. Price movements for the stock have been influenced by the stock’s volatility, which stands at 5.37% over the week and 5.64% over the month.
Analysts forecast that World Acceptance Corporation (WRLD) will achieve an EPS of $0.87 for the current quarter, $4.02 for the next quarter and $9.82 for 2024. The lowest estimate earnings-per-share for the quarter is $0.29 while analysts give the company a high EPS estimate of $1.65. Comparatively, EPS for the current quarter was $1.14 a year ago. Earnings per share for the fiscal year are expected to decrease by -36.00%, and 215.80% over the next financial year. EPS should shrink at an annualized rate of 1.50% over the next five years, compared to 1.90% over the past 5-year period.
If you are looking to buy this stock, then you may note that the average analyst recommendation by 3 brokerage firm advisors rate World Acceptance Corporation (WRLD) as a “Hold” at a consensus score of 3.70. Specifically, 0 Wall Street analysts polled rate the stock as a buy, while 1 of the 3 advise that investors “hold,” and 2 rated it as a “Sell.”
Looking at the support for the WRLD, a number of firms have released research notes about the stock. Stephens stated their Underweight rating for the stock in a research note on June 29, 2022, with the firm’s price target at $159. Stephens coverage for the World Acceptance Corporation (WRLD) stock in a research note released on July 22, 2021 offered a Equal-Weight rating with a price target of $140. Jefferies on their part issued Underperform rating on January 10, 2017.
