Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) Insider Ryan Bell Sells 7,240 Shares of Stock

Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) insider Ryan Bell sold 7,240 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.04, for a total value of $499,849.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 48,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,325,656.80. This represents a 13.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Encore Capital Group Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of ECPG traded down $2.02 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $71.73. 15,322 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 208,543. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $57.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.19. The company has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.35. Encore Capital Group Inc has a 1-year low of $26.45 and a 1-year high of $74.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.10.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The asset manager reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $1.17. The business 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%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($9.42) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Encore Capital Group Inc will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Encore Capital Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Encore Capital Group by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,308,252 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $54,606,000 after acquiring an additional 59,421 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Encore Capital Group by 2.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 583,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,577,000 after purchasing an additional 14,353 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Encore Capital Group by 78.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 412,498 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,419,000 after purchasing an additional 180,733 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Encore Capital Group by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 385,830 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $20,970,000 after purchasing an additional 34,980 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Encore Capital Group by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 371,916 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $20,214,000 after buying an additional 39,214 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ECPG shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Encore Capital Group from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Encore Capital Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Encore Capital Group from $59.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Encore Capital Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.50.

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.