State of Wyoming Buys New Stake in Atlanticus Holdings Corporation $ATLC

Key Points

• The State of Wyoming purchased 3,948 shares of Atlanticus Holdings Corporation, valued at approximately $202,000, in the 1st quarter, according to its SEC filing.
• Atlanticus has seen positive analyst sentiment, with upgrades to a "strong-buy" rating and price targets reaching up to $78.00 from previous ratings.
• In financial performance, Atlanticus reported $1.51 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4766 per share.

State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:ATLC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,948 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Atlanticus by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,413 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Atlanticus by 229.4% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 728 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its stake in Atlanticus by 19.3% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 3,152 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Atlanticus by 3.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,751 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $806,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Atlanticus by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,168 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. 14.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Deal W. Hudson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.39, for a total transaction of $124,780.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,092 shares in the company, valued at $3,811,529.88. This represents a 3.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 50.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ATLC shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Atlanticus from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Atlanticus from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.20.

Atlanticus Stock Down 1.5%

ATLC traded down $1.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $67.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 34,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,240. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 2.00. 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 Holdings Corporation has a 1 year low of $30.00 and a 1 year high of $69.94. The stock's 50-day moving average is $58.45 and its 200-day moving average is $53.84.

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

Atlanticus Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.4766 per share. This represents a $1.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%.

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.