PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) Trading 12% Higher Following Insider Buying Activity

PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA)’s share price shot up 12% during trading on Monday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock traded as high as $14.93 and last traded at $15.06. 286,034 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 6% from the average session volume of 269,212 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.44.

Specifically, Director Brett Lee Paschke acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.39 per share, with a total value of $66,950.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 30,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,449.84. This trade represents a 19.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PRAA. JMP Securities lowered their price objective on PRA Group from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. StockNews.com lowered PRA Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th.

PRA Group Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $18.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.46. The company has a market capitalization of $589.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 1.70.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The business services provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.32). PRA Group had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 5.16%. The company had revenue of $269.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.09 earnings per share. PRA Group’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that PRA Group, Inc. will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PRA Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PRAA. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of PRA Group by 55.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 117,053 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 41,525 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of PRA Group by 40.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 74,937 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,676,000 after purchasing an additional 21,476 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in shares of PRA Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $753,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of PRA Group by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 64,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of PRA Group by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 191,168 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,994,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares during the last quarter. 97.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PRA Group Company Profile

PRA Group, Inc, a financial and business services company, engages in the purchase, collection, and management of portfolios of nonperforming loans worldwide. It is involved in the purchase of accounts that are primarily the unpaid obligations of individuals owed to credit originators, which include banks and other types of consumer, retail, and auto finance companies.