Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:ATLC) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:ATLC) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from five analysts, with one hold and four buy ratings.
• The company reported earnings of $1.51 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, alongside a revenue of $393.82 million.
• Atlanticus recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.4766, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.6%.

Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:ATLC - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.60.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ATLC shares. Wall Street Zen cut Atlanticus from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Atlanticus in a report on Thursday. B. Riley boosted their price objective on Atlanticus from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and set a $84.00 price objective on shares of Atlanticus in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Atlanticus from $78.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday.

Insider Activity at Atlanticus

In other news, Director Deal W. Hudson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.39, for a total value of $124,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,092 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,811,529.88. The trade was a 3.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 50.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Atlanticus

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Man Group plc purchased a new stake in Atlanticus during the 2nd quarter valued at about $701,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Atlanticus by 334.8% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,735 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 1,336 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Atlanticus by 133.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 93,234 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $5,105,000 after purchasing an additional 53,312 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Atlanticus by 205.5% in the second quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 14,683 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $804,000 after buying an additional 9,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Atlanticus by 6.1% in the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 9,344 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $512,000 after buying an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.15% of the company's stock.

Atlanticus Price Performance

ATLC traded down $1.25 on Wednesday, hitting $70.25. 191,616 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 51,898. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $60.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.72. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35 and a beta of 2.00. Atlanticus has a one year low of $33.41 and a one year high of $78.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.21. Atlanticus had a return on equity of 24.20% and a net margin of 8.51%.The business had revenue of $393.82 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $373.87 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Atlanticus will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

Atlanticus Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 1st were given a $0.4766 dividend. This represents a $1.91 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%.

Atlanticus Company Profile

Atlanticus Holdings Corporation, a financial technology company, provides credit and related financial services and products to customers the United States. It operates in two segments, Credit as a Service, and Auto Finance. The Credit as a Service segment originates a range of consumer loan products, such as private label and general purpose credit cards originated by lenders through various channels, including retail and healthcare, direct mail solicitation, digital marketing, and partnerships with third parties; and offers credit to their customers for the purchase of various goods and services, including consumer electronics, furniture, elective medical procedures, healthcare, and home-improvements by partnering with retailers, healthcare providers, and other service providers.