Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $79.52 and last traded at $74.2530, with a volume of 80605 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $73.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ECPG. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Encore Capital Group from $59.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Citizens Jmp raised their price target on shares of Encore Capital Group from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Encore Capital Group from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $75.50.

Encore Capital Group Trading Up 0.8%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.10. The firm has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.77 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $64.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.75.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The asset manager reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $1.17. Encore Capital Group had a net margin of 14.52% and a return on equity of 28.19%. The firm had revenue of $473.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $423.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($9.42) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 78.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Encore Capital Group Inc will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Encore Capital Group news, insider Ryan B. Bell sold 7,240 shares of Encore Capital Group stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.04, for a total transaction of $499,849.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 48,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,325,656.80. The trade was a 13.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Encore Capital Group

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ECPG. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Encore Capital Group by 97.9% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 33,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 16,634 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Encore Capital Group by 263.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 68,860 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,361,000 after acquiring an additional 49,892 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Encore Capital Group by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 13,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $477,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Encore Capital Group by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 90,910 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,116,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in Encore Capital Group by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 78,465 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,690,000 after acquiring an additional 5,672 shares during the period.

About Encore Capital Group

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.