Short Interest in Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPSS) Declines By 36.7%

Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPSS) was the target of a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 307,500 shares, a drop of 36.7% from the January 31st total of 486,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 26,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 11.4 days. Approximately 3.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Consumer Portfolio Services

In other Consumer Portfolio Services news, Director William B. Roberts sold 10,000 shares of Consumer Portfolio Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.33, for a total transaction of $103,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 724,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,487,214.99. The trade was a 1.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP April Crisp sold 2,500 shares of Consumer Portfolio Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.15, for a total value of $27,875.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $191,913.80. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,500 shares of company stock valued at $287,925. Corporate insiders own 69.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CPSS. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in Consumer Portfolio Services during the third quarter valued at $445,000. State Street Corp lifted its position 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 worth $1,747,000 after purchasing an additional 3,922 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC bought a new position in Consumer Portfolio Services during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,309,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Consumer Portfolio Services by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 145,220 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Consumer Portfolio Services by 297.6% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Consumer Portfolio Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday.

Consumer Portfolio Services Stock Performance

Consumer Portfolio Services stock opened at $10.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.52, a current ratio of 19.17 and a quick ratio of 19.16. Consumer Portfolio Services has a 12 month low of $7.03 and a 12 month high of $12.73. The company has a market cap of $214.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.49 and a beta of 1.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $11.08 and its 200-day moving average is $10.23.

Consumer Portfolio Services (NASDAQ:CPSS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The credit services provider reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $105.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.37 million. Consumer Portfolio Services had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 5.59%. Equities analysts anticipate that Consumer Portfolio Services will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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.