5,995 Shares in Encore Capital Group Inc $ECPG Bought by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS bought a new position in shares of Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,995 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECPG. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Encore Capital Group in the second quarter worth about $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 345.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 819 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in Encore Capital Group by 83.4% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,652 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Encore Capital Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Encore Capital Group by 1,677.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,096 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 5,753 shares during the period.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Yung sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total transaction of $52,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 56,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,943,668. This represents a 1.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECPG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Janney Montgomery Scott lifted their price target on shares of Encore Capital Group from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Encore Capital Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.67.

Encore Capital Group Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Encore Capital Group stock opened at $51.13 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.68. The company has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.67 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Encore Capital Group Inc has a 1 year low of $26.45 and a 1 year high of $52.00.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The asset manager reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.92 by $1.25. Encore Capital Group had a negative net margin of 6.07% and a positive return on equity of 19.61%. The firm had revenue of $460.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Encore Capital Group Inc will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

About Encore Capital Group

Encore Capital Group, Inc, a specialty finance company, provides debt recovery solutions and other related services for consumers across financial assets worldwide. The company purchases portfolios of defaulted consumer receivables at deep discounts to face value, as well as manages them by working with individuals as they repay their obligations and works toward financial recovery.