PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• PRA Group has a consensus “Hold” rating from five analysts, with one sell, two hold, one buy and one strong-buy recommendation. The average 12-month price target is $26.00, compared with the stock’s reported price of $20.05.
• Institutional investors own 97.22% of PRA Group, with BlackRock initiating an approximately $84.2 million position and several other funds significantly increasing their holdings.
• PRA Group’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, reporting $1.51 in earnings per share versus a $0.52 estimate and revenue of $372.17 million against a $299.99 million consensus forecast.

Shares of PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $26.00.

PRAA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of PRA Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PRA Group from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d)" rating on shares of PRA Group in a research report on Monday, September 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PRA Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PRAA. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in PRA Group during the second quarter worth about $84,183,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of PRA Group by 401.6% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 601,444 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $11,421,000 after purchasing an additional 481,538 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of PRA Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,112,000. Susquehanna International Group LLP increased its stake in shares of PRA Group by 288.0% during the second quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 200,848 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,814,000 after purchasing an additional 149,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of PRA Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,404,000. 97.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PRA Group Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of PRAA stock opened at $20.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.02 and a 200 day moving average of $18.11. PRA Group has a 52 week low of $10.25 and a 52 week high of $22.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $754.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.98 and a beta of 1.11.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $299.99 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that PRA Group will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

About PRA Group

PRA Group, Inc is a global financial services company that purchases portfolios of accounts receivable from banks, credit unions, consumer finance companies and other creditors. These portfolios generally consist of nonperforming or distressed consumer accounts, including unpaid credit card balances, personal loans and other forms of unsecured debt.

After acquiring receivables, PRA Group works directly with consumers to establish repayment arrangements and resolve outstanding obligations.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.