Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) Lowered to “Buy” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Encore Capital Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Encore Capital Group from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Northland Securities set a $70.00 price target on shares of Encore Capital Group in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Encore Capital Group from $59.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $75.50.

Encore Capital Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ECPG opened at $68.87 on Friday. Encore Capital Group has a twelve month low of $26.45 and a twelve month high of $74.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $62.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.31. The company has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a PE ratio of 6.28 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.10.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The asset manager reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $1.17. The company had revenue of $473.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $423.14 million. Encore Capital Group had a return on equity of 28.19% and a net margin of 14.52%.Encore Capital Group’s quarterly revenue was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($9.42) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Encore Capital Group will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ryan B. Bell sold 7,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.04, for a total value of $499,849.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 48,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,325,656.80. This trade represents a 13.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Encore Capital Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ECPG. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Encore Capital Group by 78.0% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 412,498 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,419,000 after purchasing an additional 180,733 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Encore Capital Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,453,000. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of Encore Capital Group by 488.1% during the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 154,128 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,377,000 after buying an additional 127,920 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Encore Capital Group by 379.7% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 98,817 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,125,000 after buying an additional 78,217 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Encore Capital Group by 476.6% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 92,978 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,599,000 after buying an additional 76,852 shares in the last quarter.

Encore Capital Group Company Profile

Encore Capital Group, Inc is a global specialty finance company that focuses on the purchase and management of nonperforming consumer receivables. Through its subsidiaries, the company acquires charged-off debt portfolios from credit card issuers, banks, and other financial institutions, and seeks to recover outstanding balances through a combination of customer outreach, payment arrangements, and, where appropriate, legal collection efforts. Encore’s business model emphasizes compliance with regulatory and industry standards to ensure ethical and transparent debt-recovery practices.

Headquartered in San Diego, California, Encore operates across North America and Europe.