PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after Citizens Jmp downgraded the stock from a market outperform rating to a market perform rating. The stock had previously closed at $15.81, but opened at $15.16. PRA Group shares last traded at $13.4410, with a volume of 363,448 shares.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on PRAA. Citigroup downgraded PRA Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of PRA Group from $33.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PRA Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded PRA Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PRA Group news, Director Geir Olsen bought 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $14.15 per share, for a total transaction of $212,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 58,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,901.95. The trade was a 34.14% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of PRA Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRAA. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of PRA Group by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,523 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of PRA Group by 7.1% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $181,000 after acquiring an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of PRA Group by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,051 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $213,000 after acquiring an additional 974 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its stake in shares of PRA Group by 3.2% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,045 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $479,000 after acquiring an additional 975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in PRA Group by 4.6% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.22% of the company’s stock.

PRA Group Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $498.94 million, a PE ratio of -1.46 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.96.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The business services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.03. PRA Group had a negative net margin of 29.55% and a positive return on equity of 7.03%. The company had revenue of $247.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $295.77 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that PRA Group, Inc. will post 2.1 EPS for the current year.

PRA Group Company Profile

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.