Atlanticus’ (ATLC) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at BTIG Research

BTIG Research restated their buy rating on shares of Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $84.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Atlanticus from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Atlanticus from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $69.20.

Atlanticus Trading Up 6.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:ATLC opened at $72.17 on Thursday. Atlanticus has a 52-week low of $30.82 and a 52-week high of $75.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.02.

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $393.82 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $373.87 million. Atlanticus had a net margin of 8.51% and a return on equity of 24.20%. Analysts expect that Atlanticus will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

Atlanticus Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be given a $0.4766 dividend. This represents a $1.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atlanticus

In other Atlanticus news, Director Deal W. Hudson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.39, for a total value of $124,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,092 shares in the company, valued at $3,811,529.88. This represents a 3.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 50.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atlanticus

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ATLC. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Atlanticus by 151.5% during the second quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 503 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Atlanticus during the first quarter valued at $56,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new stake in Atlanticus during the first quarter valued at $71,000. US Bancorp DE purchased a new stake in Atlanticus during the first quarter valued at $74,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Atlanticus by 334.8% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,735 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 1,336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 14.15% of the company’s stock.

Atlanticus Company Profile

Atlanticus Holdings Corporation, a financial technology company, provides credit and related financial services and products to customers the United States. It operates in two segments, Credit as a Service, and Auto Finance. The Credit as a Service segment originates a range of consumer loan products, such as private label and general purpose credit cards originated by lenders through various channels, including retail and healthcare, direct mail solicitation, digital marketing, and partnerships with third parties; and offers credit to their customers for the purchase of various goods and services, including consumer electronics, furniture, elective medical procedures, healthcare, and home-improvements by partnering with retailers, healthcare providers, and other service providers.