Paragon Banking Group (LON:PAG) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results

Paragon Banking Group (LON:PAG) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported GBX 52.10 earnings per share for the quarter, Digital Look Earnings reports. Paragon Banking Group had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 21.40%.The firm had revenue of £259.20 million for the quarter.

Here are the key takeaways from Paragon Banking Group’s conference call:

• Paragon delivered a strong first-half performance, with underlying operating profit of GBP 146 million, EPS up 2.9%, and return on tangible equity at 17.4%, supported by loan growth, tight cost control, and resilient margins.
• The company upgraded guidance, saying full-year net interest margin should be around 300 bps and cost guidance has also been raised despite a competitive funding environment and inflationary pressure.
• Paragon emphasized strong capital generation, generating CET1 at a 2.4% annualized rate in H1 and announcing a further GBP 50 million share buyback, while maintaining capital ratios above regulatory requirements.
• Loan growth remained solid, especially in commercial lending (+9.2%) and underlying buy-to-let growth (+6.7%), while the company continued to diversify funding through repo, covered bonds, and platform deposits.
• Impairments increased due mainly to the pre-September 2022 development finance cohort, and management acknowledged those workouts are taking longer than expected, though the rest of the portfolio was described as performing well.

Paragon Banking Group Stock Performance

Paragon Banking Group stock opened at GBX 737.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 753.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 813.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 120.17, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of £1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.39, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.18. Paragon Banking Group has a fifty-two week low of GBX 695.50 and a fifty-two week high of GBX 981.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on PAG shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 1,000 target price on shares of Paragon Banking Group in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 1,035 target price on shares of Paragon Banking Group in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of GBX 1,028.20.

Insider Activity

In other Paragon Banking Group news, insider Zoe Howorth bought 1,869 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 798 per share, for a total transaction of £14,914.62. Also, insider Peter Hill bought 382 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 784 per share, with a total value of £2,994.88. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 2,751 shares of company stock valued at $2,184,450. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Paragon Banking Group Company Profile

Paragon is a specialist banking group. It offers a range of savings accounts and provide finance for landlords and small
and medium-sized businesses (‘SMEs’) and residential property developers in the UK. Founded in 1985 and listed on the
London Stock Exchange, it is a FTSE-250 company. Headquartered in Solihull, it employs more than 1,400 people.
Its operations are organised into two lending divisions and lending is funded largely by retail deposits.