Northern Trust Corp Trims Stake in Encore Capital Group Inc $ECPG

Northern Trust Corp reduced its position in shares of Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 272,294 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 14,569 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.17% of Encore Capital Group worth $9,334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECPG. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Encore Capital Group in the fourth quarter worth $241,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Encore Capital Group by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Encore Capital Group by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 67,268 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,213,000 after acquiring an additional 8,213 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Encore Capital Group in the fourth quarter worth $667,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Encore Capital Group by 78.1% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,250 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 3,617 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Encore Capital Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.67.

Encore Capital Group Stock Performance

Encore Capital Group stock opened at $44.45 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The company has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of -11.88 and a beta of 1.52. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.75. Encore Capital Group Inc has a twelve month low of $26.45 and a twelve month high of $51.77.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The asset manager reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $1.05. The business had revenue of $442.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $383.42 million. Encore Capital Group had a negative net margin of 6.07% and a positive return on equity of 19.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Encore Capital Group Inc will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Encore Capital Group Profile

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.