PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $16.15, but opened at $17.15. PRA Group shares last traded at $17.69, with a volume of 8,300 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered PRA Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PRA Group in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.00.

PRA Group Trading Up 0.7%

The stock has a market capitalization of $688.06 million, a PE ratio of -2.52 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $16.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.55.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.22. PRA Group had a positive return on equity of 13.19% and a negative net margin of 22.51%.The company had revenue of $314.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $295.90 million. Research analysts forecast that PRA Group, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PRAA. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of PRA Group by 401.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 601,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,421,000 after acquiring an additional 481,538 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in PRA Group by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 111,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 15,538 shares during the period. Amundi bought a new position in PRA Group in the 1st quarter worth $298,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in PRA Group by 49.6% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in PRA Group during the first quarter valued at $366,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.22% of the company’s stock.

PRA Group Company Profile

PRA Group, Inc is a global specialty finance company focused on the acquisition and management of nonperforming loans. Founded in 1996 as Portfolio Recovery Associates, the company purchases defaulted consumer and commercial receivables at discounted rates from financial institutions, utilities and other creditors. By combining rigorous analytics with a consumer-centric ethos, PRA Group seeks to maximize recoveries while maintaining respectful and compliant interactions with debtors.

The company’s core activities include first-party and third-party collections across a range of asset classes such as credit cards, auto loans and utility receivables.