PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

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

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PRA Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of 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 assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

PRA Group Price Performance

Shares of PRAA opened at $20.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $775.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.06 and a beta of 1.11. PRA Group has a 1 year low of $10.25 and a 1 year high of $22.55. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.72.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $372.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.99 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PRA Group will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PRA Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of PRA Group by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,523 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of PRA Group by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 94,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,679,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the period. Mariner LLC grew its holdings in PRA Group by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,045 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 975 shares during the last quarter. 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. Finally, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec raised its position in PRA Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 77,216 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.22% of the company’s stock.

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.