PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) Rating Lowered to Buy at Wall Street Zen

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on PRAA. Weiss Ratings upgraded PRA Group from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Zacks Research cut PRA Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

PRA Group Stock Performance

PRAA stock opened at $19.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $718.36 million, a P/E ratio of -2.84 and a beta of 1.13. PRA Group has a 52-week low of $10.25 and a 52-week high of $22.55. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.41.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.99 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PRA Group will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PRA Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PRA Group in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in PRA Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $264,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in PRA Group by 1,828.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 14,906 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 14,133 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in PRA Group by 26.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,090 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 4,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Morris Harris LLC bought a new position in PRA Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $262,000. Institutional investors own 97.22% of the company’s stock.

About PRA Group

PRA Group, Inc is a global financial services company that purchases and manages portfolios of defaulted consumer accounts. The company works with individuals to help resolve outstanding obligations and provides account management, customer service and debt recovery solutions for acquired portfolios.

The company serves consumers and financial institutions across North America, Europe and Australia. Its activities include acquiring nonperforming consumer debt from banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions, as well as servicing portfolios on behalf of third parties in selected markets.

PRA Group was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia.