Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Purchases 59,421 Shares of Encore Capital Group Inc $ECPG

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) by 4.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,308,252 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,421 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Encore Capital Group worth $54,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 583,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,577,000 after buying an additional 14,353 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Encore Capital Group by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 235,410 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,113,000 after purchasing an additional 39,406 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 128,041 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,956,000 after purchasing an additional 7,384 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Encore Capital Group by 72.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 118,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,594,000 after buying an additional 49,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in Encore Capital Group by 9.8% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 98,934 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,830,000 after acquiring an additional 8,828 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ECPG shares. Janney Montgomery Scott lifted their price objective on shares of Encore Capital Group from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Encore Capital Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Laura Olle sold 1,423 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.79, for a total transaction of $75,120.17. Following the sale, the director owned 35,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,848,916.96. This trade represents a 3.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Yung sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total value of $52,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 56,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,943,668. The trade was a 1.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 4,923 shares of company stock worth $264,620. 2.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Encore Capital Group Price Performance

Shares of Encore Capital Group stock opened at $56.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.72 and a beta of 1.45. Encore Capital Group Inc has a twelve month low of $26.45 and a twelve month high of $57.81. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.65.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The asset manager reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.92 by $1.25. The company had revenue of $460.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.70 million. Encore Capital Group had a negative net margin of 2.89% and a positive return on equity of 25.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Encore Capital Group Inc will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Encore Capital Group Profile

Encore Capital Group, Inc is a global specialty finance company that focuses on the purchase and management of nonperforming consumer receivables. Through its subsidiaries, the company acquires charged-off debt portfolios from credit card issuers, banks, and other financial institutions, and seeks to recover outstanding balances through a combination of customer outreach, payment arrangements, and, where appropriate, legal collection efforts. Encore’s business model emphasizes compliance with regulatory and industry standards to ensure ethical and transparent debt-recovery practices.

Headquartered in San Diego, California, Encore operates across North America and Europe.