Atlanticus Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:ATLC) Short Interest Update

Atlanticus Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:ATLC) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 329,000 shares, a drop of 9.9% from the August 31st total of 365,100 shares. Currently, 7.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 19,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 16.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Deal W. Hudson sold 1,200 shares of Atlanticus stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.75, for a total transaction of $39,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,209,151.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Deal W. Hudson sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.75, for a total transaction of $39,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,209,151.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Deal W. Hudson sold 2,500 shares of Atlanticus stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.35, for a total transaction of $78,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 64,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,036,339.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 51.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Atlanticus

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ATLC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Atlanticus by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 602,272 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $23,290,000 after purchasing an additional 7,234 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Atlanticus by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 258,689 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,655,000 after buying an additional 2,453 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Atlanticus by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 8,127 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Atlanticus by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 26,040 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $771,000 after buying an additional 1,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Atlanticus by 65.5% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,324 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the period. 14.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BTIG Research started coverage on Atlanticus in a report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Atlanticus from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th.

Atlanticus Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ATLC traded up $0.76 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $34.82. 4,400 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,646. The stock has a market capitalization of $515.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.21 and a beta of 1.93. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $33.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43. Atlanticus has a 1-year low of $23.09 and a 1-year high of $39.53.

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The credit services provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $315.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.74 million. Atlanticus had a return on equity of 25.32% and a net margin of 8.42%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Atlanticus will post 4.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Atlanticus

Atlanticus Holdings Corporation, a financial technology company, provides credit and related financial services and products to customers the United States. It operates in two segments, Credit as a Service, and Auto Finance. The Credit as a Service segment originates a range of consumer loan products, such as private label and general purpose credit cards originated by lenders through various channels, including retail and healthcare, direct mail solicitation, digital marketing, and partnerships with third parties; and offers credit to their customers for the purchase of various goods and services, including consumer electronics, furniture, elective medical procedures, healthcare, and home-improvements by partnering with retailers, healthcare providers, and other service providers.