Encore Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECPG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Encore Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECPG) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the four ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $65.00.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ECPG. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Encore Capital Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities boosted their price target on Encore Capital Group from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Northland Capmk raised shares of Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Encore Capital Group news, Director Laura Olle sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total transaction of $65,874.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,591,849.96. This trade represents a 3.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Encore Capital Group by 0.5% during the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,137,752 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,782,000 after purchasing an additional 5,373 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Encore Capital Group by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 900,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $42,575,000 after buying 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 buying an additional 104,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Encore Capital Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 570,047 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,952,000 after acquiring 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 acquiring an additional 18,467 shares in the last quarter.

Encore Capital Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ECPG opened at $47.77 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.09 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. Encore Capital Group has a 12 month low of $39.64 and a 12 month high of $54.55.

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