Renaissance Technologies LLC Raises Stock Position in Encore Capital Group Inc $ECPG

Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Encore Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ECPG) by 195.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,700 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.10% of Encore Capital Group worth $1,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECPG. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 658.2% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 334,018 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $23,421,000 after purchasing an additional 289,964 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Encore Capital Group by 5.5% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 30,631 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,148,000 after buying an additional 1,604 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its stake in Encore Capital Group by 25.8% in the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 8,491 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $595,000 after buying an additional 1,741 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in Encore Capital Group in the first quarter worth about $225,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Encore Capital Group by 28.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $510,000 after buying an additional 1,614 shares during the period.

Insider Activity at Encore Capital Group

In other news, insider John Yung sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.08, for a total transaction of $164,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 64,570 shares in the company, valued at $5,299,905.60. This trade represents a 3.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECPG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Encore Capital Group in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research upgraded Encore Capital Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Encore Capital Group from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Encore Capital Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.75.

Encore Capital Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ECPG opened at $97.50 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.48. Encore Capital Group Inc has a fifty-two week low of $39.94 and a fifty-two week high of $101.79. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.87, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The asset manager reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $491.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $455.10 million. Encore Capital Group had a return on equity of 29.83% and a net margin of 15.86%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.49 EPS. Encore Capital Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-14.000 EPS. Analysts expect that Encore Capital Group Inc will post 13.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Encore Capital Group Profile

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.