Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:ATLC) Receives $76.60 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:ATLC) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.60.

ATLC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Atlanticus from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Atlanticus in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 target price on shares of Atlanticus in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Atlanticus from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Atlanticus in a research report on Thursday, September 18th.

Atlanticus Trading Up 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ ATLC opened at $58.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $63.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.04. The company has a market cap of $877.11 million, a PE ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 2.15. Atlanticus has a 52-week low of $35.26 and a 52-week high of $78.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $393.82 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $373.87 million. Atlanticus had a net margin of 8.51% and a return on equity of 24.20%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Atlanticus will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atlanticus Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 1st were given a dividend of $0.4766 per share. This represents a $1.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Deal W. Hudson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.39, for a total transaction of $124,780.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,092 shares in the company, valued at $3,811,529.88. This represents a 3.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 51.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Atlanticus

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATLC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Atlanticus by 198.9% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 365,278 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $18,684,000 after purchasing an additional 243,053 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Atlanticus by 2.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 126,841 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,945,000 after purchasing an additional 2,812 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Atlanticus by 25.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 120,071 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,574,000 after purchasing an additional 24,595 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Atlanticus by 133.5% in the second quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 93,234 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,105,000 after purchasing an additional 53,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Atlanticus by 1.2% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 82,629 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,524,000 after purchasing an additional 982 shares in the last quarter. 14.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Atlanticus Company Profile

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.