Vanguard Group Inc. Has $102.45 Million Stock Holdings in Encore Capital Group Inc $ECPG

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) by 3.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,454,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 77,020 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Encore Capital Group worth $102,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECPG. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Encore Capital Group in the second quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Encore Capital Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $88,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 168.9% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,716 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 1,706 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in shares of Encore Capital Group by 83.4% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,652 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Encore Capital Group in the third quarter valued at about $174,000.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Encore Capital Group news, insider Ryan B. Bell sold 7,240 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.04, for a total value of $499,849.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 48,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,325,656.80. This represents a 13.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,000 shares of company stock valued at $655,191. 2.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Encore Capital Group Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of Encore Capital Group stock opened at $73.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.19. Encore Capital Group Inc has a 1 year low of $26.45 and a 1 year high of $74.58. The company has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on ECPG. Citizens Jmp increased their price target on Encore Capital Group from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Encore Capital Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Encore Capital Group from $59.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Encore Capital Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Encore Capital Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $75.50.

Encore Capital Group 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.