PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

PRAA has been the topic of several other reports. Zacks Research downgraded PRA Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings raised PRA Group from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

PRA Group Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:PRAA opened at $19.88 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $19.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.56. PRA Group has a 52 week low of $10.25 and a 52 week high of $22.55. The stock has a market cap of $748.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.95 and a beta of 1.15.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.99. PRA Group had a negative net margin of 19.91% and a positive return on equity of 15.56%. The company had revenue of $372.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.99 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PRA Group will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of PRA Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of PRA Group in the third quarter worth $326,000. Blueprint Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PRA Group during the third quarter valued at $326,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in PRA Group in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in PRA Group in the third quarter valued at about $264,000. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in PRA Group by 1,828.3% in the third quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 14,906 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 14,133 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.22% of the company’s stock.

About PRA Group

PRA Group, Inc is a global financial services company that purchases and manages portfolios of defaulted consumer accounts. The company works with individuals to help resolve outstanding obligations and provides account management, customer service and debt recovery solutions for acquired portfolios.

The company serves consumers and financial institutions across North America, Europe and Australia. Its activities include acquiring nonperforming consumer debt from banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions, as well as servicing portfolios on behalf of third parties in selected markets.

PRA Group was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia.