Truist Financial Raises Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) Price Target to $105.00

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Truist Financial from $100.00 to $105.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 25.18% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on ECPG. Northland Securities set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Encore Capital Group in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on shares of Encore Capital Group from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Encore Capital Group in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Encore Capital Group from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.25.

Encore Capital Group Stock Performance

Shares of ECPG opened at $83.88 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of 6.51 and a beta of 1.33. Encore Capital Group has a one year low of $35.67 and a one year high of $92.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $73.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.15.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The asset manager reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.84. Encore Capital Group had a net margin of 16.00% and a return on equity of 30.70%. The company had revenue of $475.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $446.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Encore Capital Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.000 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Encore Capital Group will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ryan B. Bell sold 7,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.04, for a total value of $499,849.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 48,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,325,656.80. The trade was a 13.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Encore Capital Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in Encore Capital Group by 4.8% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,308,252 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $54,606,000 after acquiring an additional 59,421 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Encore Capital Group by 78.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 412,498 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,419,000 after acquiring an additional 180,733 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Encore Capital Group by 0.7% in the first quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 388,425 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $27,236,000 after acquiring an additional 2,595 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Encore Capital Group by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 371,916 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $20,214,000 after acquiring an additional 39,214 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in Encore Capital Group by 16.5% during the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 274,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,450,000 after buying an additional 38,908 shares during the last quarter.

Encore Capital Group Company Profile

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.