Paragon Banking Group (LON:PAG) Posts Earnings Results

Paragon Banking Group (LON:PAG) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported GBX 52.10 EPS for the quarter, Digital Look Earnings reports. Paragon Banking Group had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 21.40%.The firm had revenue of £259.20 million for the quarter.

Here are the key takeaways from Paragon Banking Group’s conference call:

• Paragon delivered a strong first-half performance, with underlying operating profit of GBP 146 million, EPS up 2.9%, and return on tangible equity at 17.4%, supported by loan growth, tight cost control, and resilient margins.
• The company upgraded guidance, saying full-year net interest margin should be around 300 bps and cost guidance has also been raised despite a competitive funding environment and inflationary pressure.
• Paragon emphasized strong capital generation, generating CET1 at a 2.4% annualized rate in H1 and announcing a further GBP 50 million share buyback, while maintaining capital ratios above regulatory requirements.
• Loan growth remained solid, especially in commercial lending (+9.2%) and underlying buy-to-let growth (+6.7%), while the company continued to diversify funding through repo, covered bonds, and platform deposits.
• Impairments increased due mainly to the pre-September 2022 development finance cohort, and management acknowledged those workouts are taking longer than expected, though the rest of the portfolio was described as performing well.

Paragon Banking Group Trading Down 3.8%

Shares of Paragon Banking Group stock opened at GBX 737.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 120.17, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 0.28. Paragon Banking Group has a 52 week low of GBX 695.50 and a 52 week high of GBX 981. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 753.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 813.16. The stock has a market capitalization of £1.36 billion, a PE ratio of 8.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.18.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PAG shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 1,000 price target on shares of Paragon Banking Group in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 1,035 target price on shares of Paragon Banking Group in a research note on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 1,028.20.

Insider Transactions at Paragon Banking Group

In other news, insider Peter Hill acquired 382 shares of Paragon Banking Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 784 per share, with a total value of £2,994.88. Also, insider Richard Woodman sold 67,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 777, for a total value of £525,788.13. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 2,751 shares of company stock valued at $2,184,450. Company insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Paragon Banking Group Company Profile

Paragon is a specialist banking group. It offers a range of savings accounts and provide finance for landlords and small
and medium-sized businesses (‘SMEs’) and residential property developers in the UK. Founded in 1985 and listed on the
London Stock Exchange, it is a FTSE-250 company. Headquartered in Solihull, it employs more than 1,400 people.
Its operations are organised into two lending divisions and lending is funded largely by retail deposits.