PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) Short Interest Update

PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 919,937 shares, a decrease of 21.3% from the March 31st total of 1,168,841 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 251,660 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

PRA Group Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of PRAA traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $22.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 144,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 466,093. PRA Group has a 1-year low of $10.25 and a 1-year high of $22.48. The stock has a market cap of $848.17 million, a P/E ratio of -2.83 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.15.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.96. The company had revenue of $333.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.86 million. PRA Group had a positive return on equity of 10.50% and a negative net margin of 25.39%. Research analysts anticipate that PRA Group will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PRA Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Topline Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 365,082 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 4,895 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 156,520 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 109,857 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 95,179 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.22% of the company’s stock.

About PRA Group

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.