Insider Selling: Encore Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECPG) Director Sells 1,340 Shares of Stock

Encore Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECPG) Director Laura Olle sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total transaction of $65,874.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 32,381 shares in the company, valued at $1,591,849.96. This represents a 3.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Encore Capital Group Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Encore Capital Group stock opened at $49.38 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.23. Encore Capital Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.64 and a twelve month high of $54.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The asset manager reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.22). Encore Capital Group had a positive return on equity of 12.70% and a negative net margin of 13.91%. The company had revenue of $367.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $360.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Encore Capital Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Encore Capital Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ECPG. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in Encore Capital Group by 8,700.0% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 528 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Encore Capital Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Encore Capital Group by 450.0% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Encore Capital Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Encore Capital Group by 54.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,365 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ECPG. Northland Securities raised Encore Capital Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Encore Capital Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Encore Capital Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Encore Capital Group from $70.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.33.

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.