PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Shares of PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $21.45 and last traded at $21.3130, with a volume of 259702 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $21.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PRA Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research cut shares of PRA Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of PRA Group from a “market outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of PRA Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

PRA Group Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $16.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.75. The company has a market cap of $814.56 million, a P/E ratio of -2.72 and a beta of 1.14.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.96. PRA Group had a negative net margin of 25.39% and a positive return on equity of 10.50%. The business had revenue of $333.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.86 million. Analysts expect that PRA Group, Inc. will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Topline Capital Management LLC grew its position in PRA Group by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Topline Capital Management LLC now owns 2,615,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,387,000 after purchasing an additional 365,082 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in PRA Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,499,488 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,526,000 after purchasing an additional 4,895 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in PRA Group by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,296,830 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,941,000 after purchasing an additional 156,520 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in PRA Group by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 819,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,091,000 after purchasing an additional 109,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in PRA Group by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 752,064 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,304,000 after purchasing an additional 95,179 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.22% of the company’s stock.

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.