World Acceptance (NASDAQ:WRLD) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of World Acceptance (NASDAQ:WRLD) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning.

World Acceptance Price Performance

WRLD opened at $126.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $736.31 million, a P/E ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $128.98 and a 200 day moving average of $131.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 15.98 and a current ratio of 15.98. World Acceptance has a fifty-two week low of $94.57 and a fifty-two week high of $160.07.

World Acceptance (NASDAQ:WRLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The credit services provider reported $6.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.35 by $1.74. The company had revenue of $159.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $149.00 million. World Acceptance had a net margin of 13.49% and a return on equity of 18.88%. On average, research analysts expect that World Acceptance will post 13.69 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On World Acceptance

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in World Acceptance by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 286,578 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $37,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,871 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in World Acceptance by 55.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 58,368 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,416,000 after purchasing an additional 20,787 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in World Acceptance by 89.5% during the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 23,869 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,455,000 after purchasing an additional 11,275 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in World Acceptance by 1.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,601 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,132,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in World Acceptance by 11.0% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 20,301 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,943,000 after purchasing an additional 2,009 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.63% of the company’s stock.

About World Acceptance

World Acceptance Corporation engages in consumer finance business in the United States. The company offers short-term small installment loans, medium-term larger installment loans, related credit insurance, and ancillary products and services to individuals. It also provides income tax return preparation and filing services; and automobile club memberships.