Encore Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECPG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Encore Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECPG) have been given an average rating of “Buy” by the four ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $62.33.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Encore Capital Group from $70.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Northland Capmk raised Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Encore Capital Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Northland Securities raised shares of Encore Capital Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 17th.

Insider Activity at Encore Capital Group

In other Encore Capital Group news, Director Laura Olle sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total value of $65,874.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 32,381 shares in the company, valued at $1,591,849.96. This represents a 3.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in Encore Capital Group by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,137,752 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,782,000 after buying an additional 5,373 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Encore Capital Group by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 900,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $42,575,000 after acquiring an additional 2,597 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 16.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 756,335 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,752,000 after acquiring an additional 104,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Encore Capital Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 570,047 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,952,000 after purchasing an additional 13,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Encore Capital Group by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 481,497 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,760,000 after purchasing an additional 18,467 shares in the last quarter.

Encore Capital Group Stock Up 1.0 %

ECPG opened at $49.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.28 and a beta of 1.55. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.48. Encore Capital Group has a 52 week low of $39.64 and a 52 week high of $54.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The asset manager reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $367.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $360.70 million. Encore Capital Group had a positive return on equity of 12.70% and a negative net margin of 13.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Encore Capital Group will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Encore Capital Group Company Profile

Encore Capital Group, Inc, a specialty finance company, provides debt recovery solutions and other related services for consumers across financial assets worldwide. The company purchases portfolios of defaulted consumer receivables at deep discounts to face value, as well as manages them by working with individuals as they repay their obligations and works toward financial recovery.