26,726 Shares in Encore Capital Group Inc $ECPG Acquired by Carnegie Investment Counsel

Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new stake in shares of Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 26,726 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,453,000. Carnegie Investment Counsel owned 0.12% of Encore Capital Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Encore Capital Group during the third quarter worth $88,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Encore Capital Group by 168.9% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,716 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,706 shares during the last quarter. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Encore Capital Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $143,000. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. purchased a new position in Encore Capital Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $174,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Encore Capital Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $214,000.

Insider Transactions at Encore Capital Group

In related news, insider Ryan B. Bell sold 7,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.04, for a total value of $499,849.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 48,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,325,656.80. The trade was a 13.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ECPG shares. Northland Securities set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Encore Capital Group in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Encore Capital Group from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Citizens Jmp boosted their price target on Encore Capital Group from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research raised Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Encore Capital Group from $59.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.50.

Encore Capital Group Price Performance

Shares of Encore Capital Group stock opened at $75.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $65.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.40. Encore Capital Group Inc has a 1 year low of $28.46 and a 1 year high of $79.52.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The asset manager reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $1.17. Encore Capital Group had a net margin of 14.52% and a return on equity of 28.19%. The business had revenue of $473.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $423.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($9.42) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 78.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Encore Capital Group Inc will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Encore Capital Group

Encore Capital Group, Inc is a global specialty finance company that focuses on the purchase and management of nonperforming consumer receivables. Through its subsidiaries, the company acquires charged-off debt portfolios from credit card issuers, banks, and other financial institutions, and seeks to recover outstanding balances through a combination of customer outreach, payment arrangements, and, where appropriate, legal collection efforts. Encore’s business model emphasizes compliance with regulatory and industry standards to ensure ethical and transparent debt-recovery practices.

Headquartered in San Diego, California, Encore operates across North America and Europe.