Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) Rating Lowered to Buy at BidaskClub

Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) was downgraded by stock analysts at BidaskClub from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Monday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ECPG. Zacks Investment Research cut Encore Capital Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on Encore Capital Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Shares of Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) traded down 1.62% during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $39.50. The company had a trading volume of 132,756 shares. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.52. Encore Capital Group has a 12-month low of $17.66 and a 12-month high of $41.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08 and a beta of 1.76.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $271.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $280.93 million. Encore Capital Group had a return on equity of 13.72% and a net margin of 7.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Encore Capital Group will post $3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Broad Run Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 5.2% in the first quarter. Broad Run Investment Management LLC now owns 2,894,864 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $89,162,000 after buying an additional 144,186 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 7.7% in the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,250,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $69,313,000 after buying an additional 161,788 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 8.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,128,159 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,547,000 after buying an additional 169,254 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 74.9% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 616,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,992,000 after buying an additional 264,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 6.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 549,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,925,000 after buying an additional 33,201 shares in the last quarter.

About Encore Capital Group

Encore Capital Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, is a specialty finance company providing debt recovery solutions for consumers and property owners across a range of financial assets. The Company operates through Portfolio Purchasing and Recovery segment. The Company’s geographical segments include the United States, Europe and other.