PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) Shares Cross Above 200-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Shares of PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $16.54 and traded as high as $16.77. PRA Group shares last traded at $16.15, with a volume of 390,157 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PRAA shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of PRA Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PRA Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

PRA Group Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $615.96 million, a PE ratio of -2.26 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.54.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $314.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $295.90 million. PRA Group had a positive return on equity of 13.19% and a negative net margin of 22.51%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PRA Group, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PRA Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PRAA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in PRA Group by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 23,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in PRA Group by 3.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 109,004 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,248,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of PRA Group by 28.8% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,446 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 3,229 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of PRA Group by 59.1% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 217,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,000 after buying an additional 80,945 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of PRA Group by 15.5% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 819,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,091,000 after buying an additional 109,857 shares during the last quarter. 97.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About PRA Group

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.