Clearbridge Investments LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Encore Capital Group Inc $ECPG

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 150,942 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 13,053 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned approximately 0.68% of Encore Capital Group worth $8,204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECPG. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Encore Capital Group by 97.9% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 33,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after buying an additional 16,634 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Encore Capital Group by 263.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 68,860 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,361,000 after purchasing an additional 49,892 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 13,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 2.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 90,910 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,116,000 after buying an additional 1,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 7.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 78,465 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,690,000 after buying an additional 5,672 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECPG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on Encore Capital Group from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Encore Capital Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research upgraded Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on Encore Capital Group from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Encore Capital Group currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.25.

Encore Capital Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ ECPG opened at $80.20 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.12. Encore Capital Group Inc has a 1-year low of $35.67 and a 1-year high of $92.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The asset manager reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $475.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $446.26 million. Encore Capital Group had a return on equity of 30.70% and a net margin of 16.00%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.93 earnings per share. Encore Capital Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Encore Capital Group Inc will post 13.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.