UBS Group AG Increases Stake in PRA Group, Inc. $PRAA

UBS Group AG raised its stake in PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) by 87.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 346,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 161,407 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in PRA Group were worth $6,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in PRA Group by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 23,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of PRA Group by 3.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 109,004 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,248,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in PRA Group by 28.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,446 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 3,229 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of PRA Group by 59.1% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 217,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,000 after purchasing an additional 80,945 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of PRA Group by 15.5% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 819,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,091,000 after buying an additional 109,857 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of PRA Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of PRA Group from a “market outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded PRA Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PRA Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

PRA Group Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of PRAA stock opened at $14.54 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $18.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.47. PRA Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.25 and a 12-month high of $22.55. The company has a market capitalization of $554.56 million, a P/E ratio of -2.03 and a beta of 1.26.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $314.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $295.90 million. PRA Group had a negative net margin of 22.51% and a positive return on equity of 13.19%. On average, research analysts predict that PRA Group, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.