PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) Short Interest Up 17.0% in February

PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 1,481,815 shares, a growth of 17.0% from the February 12th total of 1,266,499 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 745,164 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 3.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Currently, 3.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 745,164 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Topline Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of PRA Group by 16.2% in the third quarter. Topline Capital Management LLC now owns 2,615,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,387,000 after buying an additional 365,082 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of PRA Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,499,488 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,526,000 after acquiring an additional 4,895 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of PRA Group by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,296,830 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,941,000 after acquiring an additional 156,520 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in PRA Group by 1.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 960,839 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,175,000 after acquiring an additional 14,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in PRA Group by 15.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 819,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,091,000 after acquiring an additional 109,857 shares during the last quarter. 97.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PRA Group Price Performance

PRAA opened at $17.53 on Thursday. PRA Group has a fifty-two week low of $10.25 and a fifty-two week high of $22.01. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $14.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $674.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.25 and a beta of 1.23.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.96. PRA Group had a negative net margin of 25.39% and a positive return on equity of 10.50%. The firm had revenue of $333.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $288.86 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PRA Group will post 2.1 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PRAA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of PRA Group from a “market outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Citigroup downgraded PRA Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PRA Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research cut PRA Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.00.

PRA Group Company Profile

PRA Group, Inc is a global specialty finance company focused on the acquisition and management of nonperforming loans. Founded in 1996 as Portfolio Recovery Associates, the company purchases defaulted consumer and commercial receivables at discounted rates from financial institutions, utilities and other creditors. By combining rigorous analytics with a consumer-centric ethos, PRA Group seeks to maximize recoveries while maintaining respectful and compliant interactions with debtors.

The company’s core activities include first-party and third-party collections across a range of asset classes such as credit cards, auto loans and utility receivables.