Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) Raised to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ATLC. Texas Capital raised shares of Atlanticus from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. William Blair set a $100.00 price objective on Atlanticus in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Atlanticus in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. B Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Atlanticus in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Atlanticus from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Atlanticus presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.00.

Atlanticus Stock Performance

NASDAQ ATLC opened at $93.02 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 2.02. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.88. Atlanticus has a 1 year low of $47.50 and a 1 year high of $114.34.

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.08. Atlanticus had a return on equity of 25.17% and a net margin of 5.80%.The firm had revenue of $744.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.35 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Atlanticus will post 9.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Mitchell Saunders sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.20, for a total transaction of $1,022,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,273 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,729,100.60. The trade was a 17.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Frank J. Hanna III sold 15,676 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.26, for a total value of $1,634,379.76. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 259,392 shares in the company, valued at $27,044,209.92. This trade represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 75,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,868,627 over the last three months. Insiders own 51.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atlanticus

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Atlanticus during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,535,000. Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC bought a new position in Atlanticus in the 2nd quarter valued at $9,161,293. Denali Advisors LLC bought a new position in Atlanticus in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,032,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Atlanticus during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,281,000. Finally, Susquehanna International Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Atlanticus during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,500,000. 14.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Atlanticus

Atlanticus Holdings Corporation is a financial technology company that provides credit and related financial services to consumers, particularly those who may have limited access to traditional lending products. The company works with merchants, financial institutions and other business partners to offer financing options at the point of sale and through direct-to-consumer channels.

Its consumer finance activities include retail credit programs, private-label and general-purpose credit cards, personal lending products and other installment financing.