Wall Street Zen Downgrades Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) to Buy

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Atlanticus in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Atlanticus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. William Blair set a $100.00 price target on shares of Atlanticus in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Atlanticus from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $144.00 price objective on Atlanticus in a report on Monday, July 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Atlanticus has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.00.

Atlanticus Price Performance

Shares of ATLC stock opened at $91.89 on Friday. Atlanticus has a 12-month low of $47.50 and a 12-month high of $114.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $96.12 and a 200-day moving average of $86.42.

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.08. Atlanticus had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 25.17%. The company had revenue of $744.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.35 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Atlanticus will post 9.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Atlanticus

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATLC. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Atlanticus during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,535,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Atlanticus during the 2nd quarter worth $2,281,000. Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC bought a new stake in shares of Atlanticus during the 2nd quarter valued at $9,161,293. Susquehanna International Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Atlanticus during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,500,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Atlanticus in the 2nd quarter worth $2,032,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.15% of the company’s stock.

About Atlanticus

Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: ATLC) is a financial technology company that develops and provides credit and related financial products for consumers who may have limited access to traditional banking services. The company works with financial institution partners and merchants to deliver credit solutions through digital and point-of-sale channels.

Atlanticus’ offerings include revolving credit products, point-of-sale financing, personal loan solutions and automotive finance programs.