Short Interest in PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) Grows By 58.0%

PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 650,400 shares, a growth of 58.0% from the January 31st total of 411,600 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 257,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PRA Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PRAA. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in PRA Group by 195.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 799,307 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,698,000 after acquiring an additional 529,041 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in PRA Group during the fourth quarter valued at $7,657,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in PRA Group by 356.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 341,952 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,143,000 after buying an additional 267,015 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in PRA Group by 271.0% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 337,166 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,043,000 after buying an additional 246,282 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Management Corp VA acquired a new stake in PRA Group during the fourth quarter valued at $4,659,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.22% of the company’s stock.

PRA Group Price Performance

PRAA stock traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $19.71. The company had a trading volume of 418,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 245,088. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.65 and a 200 day moving average of $21.66. PRA Group has a 12 month low of $18.64 and a 12 month high of $28.64. The company has a market capitalization of $777.11 million, a PE ratio of 11.01 and a beta of 1.49.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The business services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.02. PRA Group had a net margin of 6.33% and a return on equity of 5.16%. The firm had revenue of $293.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.81 million. Analysts anticipate that PRA Group will post 2.1 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of PRA Group from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

About PRA Group

PRA Group, Inc, a financial and business services company, engages in the purchase, collection, and management of portfolios of nonperforming loans worldwide. It is involved in the purchase of accounts that are primarily the unpaid obligations of individuals owed to credit originators, which include banks and other types of consumer, retail, and auto finance companies.