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

Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPSS) saw 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. Currently, 3.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 26,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 11.4 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William B. Roberts sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.45, for a total value of $156,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 700,078 shares in the company, valued at $7,315,815.10. This trade represents a 2.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP April Crisp sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.15, for a total transaction of $27,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $191,913.80. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,500 shares of company stock worth $287,925 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 69.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Consumer Portfolio Services

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in Consumer Portfolio Services by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 4,883 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 984 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 8,828 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Consumer Portfolio Services by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 13,335 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Consumer Portfolio Services by 620.5% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 29,173 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 25,124 shares during the period. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of Consumer Portfolio Services in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $445,000. 47.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Consumer Portfolio Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CPSS opened at $10.00 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $11.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.23. Consumer Portfolio Services has a 1-year low of $7.03 and a 1-year high of $12.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.05 million, a P/E ratio of 11.49 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a current ratio of 19.17, a quick ratio of 19.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.52.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Consumer Portfolio Services Company Profile

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.