PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $21.15, but opened at $22.09. PRA Group shares last traded at $22.1750, with a volume of 15,404 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PRAA shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PRA Group in a report on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup lowered PRA Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Zacks Research cut shares of PRA Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut shares of PRA Group from a “market outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

PRA Group Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $835.29 million, a P/E ratio of -2.79 and a beta of 1.14.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.96. PRA Group had a positive return on equity of 10.50% and a negative net margin of 25.39%.The business had revenue of $333.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $288.86 million. As a group, research analysts expect that PRA Group, Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PRA Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PRAA. Topline Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in PRA Group by 16.2% during the third quarter. Topline Capital Management LLC now owns 2,615,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,387,000 after buying an additional 365,082 shares during the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of PRA Group by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 415,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,415,000 after purchasing an additional 53,068 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of PRA Group by 146.8% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,848 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in PRA Group by 87.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 346,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,128,000 after purchasing an additional 161,407 shares during the period. Finally, Inscription Capital LLC acquired a new position in PRA Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $221,000. Institutional investors own 97.22% of the company’s stock.

About PRA Group

PRA Group, Inc is a global specialty finance company focused on the acquisition and management of nonperforming loans. Founded in 1996 as Portfolio Recovery Associates, the company purchases defaulted consumer and commercial receivables at discounted rates from financial institutions, utilities and other creditors. By combining rigorous analytics with a consumer-centric ethos, PRA Group seeks to maximize recoveries while maintaining respectful and compliant interactions with debtors.

The company’s core activities include first-party and third-party collections across a range of asset classes such as credit cards, auto loans and utility receivables.