PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy”

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PRA Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research raised PRA Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

PRA Group Stock Performance

PRAA stock opened at $19.02 on Friday. PRA Group has a 1 year low of $10.25 and a 1 year high of $22.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $716.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.83 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.45.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.99. PRA Group had a negative net margin of 19.91% and a positive return on equity of 15.56%. The business had revenue of $372.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.99 million. As a group, analysts predict that PRA Group will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PRA Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PRAA. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in PRA Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $84,183,000. Topline Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PRA Group by 168.3% in the 2nd quarter. Topline Capital Management LLC now owns 2,250,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411,707 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of PRA Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,499,488 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,526,000 after purchasing an additional 4,895 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of PRA Group by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,296,830 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,941,000 after purchasing an additional 156,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of PRA Group by 15.5% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 819,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,091,000 after purchasing an additional 109,857 shares in the last quarter. 97.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.