Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 11,170 Shares of Encore Capital Group Inc $ECPG

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) by 45.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 35,738 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,170 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Encore Capital Group were worth $2,479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Encore Capital Group by 78.0% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 412,498 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,419,000 after acquiring an additional 180,733 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Encore Capital Group by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 385,830 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $20,970,000 after acquiring an additional 34,980 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Encore Capital Group by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 371,916 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $20,214,000 after purchasing an additional 39,214 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Encore Capital Group by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 170,002 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,240,000 after purchasing an additional 3,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of Encore Capital Group by 488.1% in the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 154,128 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,377,000 after purchasing an additional 127,920 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Encore Capital Group

In related news, insider John Yung sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.08, for a total value of $164,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 64,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,299,905.60. This represents a 3.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Encore Capital Group from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Encore Capital Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Encore Capital Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.00.

Encore Capital Group Stock Up 5.3%

ECPG stock opened at $90.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $85.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.74. The company has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.99 and a beta of 1.27. Encore Capital Group Inc has a fifty-two week low of $35.67 and a fifty-two week high of $94.60.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The asset manager reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $475.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $446.26 million. Encore Capital Group had a net margin of 16.00% and a return on equity of 30.70%. Encore Capital Group’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.93 earnings per share. Encore Capital Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.000 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Encore Capital Group Inc will post 13.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.