Royce & Associates LP Decreases Stake in Encore Capital Group Inc $ECPG

Royce & Associates LP reduced its holdings in Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 197,890 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,080 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.89% of Encore Capital Group worth $10,755,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Heartland Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 17.7% in the third quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 350,850 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,644,000 after buying an additional 52,700 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 11.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 332,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,887,000 after buying an additional 33,350 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 16.5% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 274,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,450,000 after buying an additional 38,908 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 3.7% in the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 166,051 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,931,000 after buying an additional 5,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Encore Capital Group by 72.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 118,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,594,000 after purchasing an additional 49,805 shares during the last quarter.

Encore Capital Group Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of ECPG stock opened at $81.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.35 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $77.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.91. Encore Capital Group Inc has a fifty-two week low of $35.67 and a fifty-two week high of $92.64.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ECPG shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Encore Capital Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research cut shares of Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Citizens Jmp raised their price objective on shares of Encore Capital Group from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Encore Capital Group from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Encore Capital Group

In related news, insider Ryan B. Bell sold 7,240 shares of Encore Capital Group stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 48,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,325,656.80. The trade was a 13.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.