Citizens Jmp Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) Stock

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) had its target price raised by analysts at Citizens Jmp from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market outperform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Citizens Jmp’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 28.76% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ECPG. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Encore Capital Group in a report on Thursday. Zacks Research cut shares of Encore Capital Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Encore Capital Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Encore Capital Group from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Encore Capital Group from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.25.

Encore Capital Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ECPG opened at $83.88 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $73.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.15. Encore Capital Group has a 52-week low of $35.67 and a 52-week high of $92.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.51 and a beta of 1.33.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The asset manager reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.84. Encore Capital Group had a net margin of 16.00% and a return on equity of 30.70%. The firm had revenue of $475.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $446.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. Encore Capital Group’s revenue was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. Encore Capital Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Encore Capital Group will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Encore Capital Group

In related news, insider Ryan B. Bell sold 7,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.04, for a total transaction of $499,849.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 48,170 shares in the company, valued at $3,325,656.80. This trade represents a 13.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ECPG. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 97.9% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 33,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 16,634 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 263.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 68,860 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,361,000 after acquiring an additional 49,892 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 13,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 2.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 90,910 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,116,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 7.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 78,465 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,690,000 after acquiring an additional 5,672 shares during the period.

About Encore Capital Group

Encore Capital Group, Inc is a global specialty finance company that focuses on the purchase and management of nonperforming consumer receivables. Through its subsidiaries, the company acquires charged-off debt portfolios from credit card issuers, banks, and other financial institutions, and seeks to recover outstanding balances through a combination of customer outreach, payment arrangements, and, where appropriate, legal collection efforts. Encore’s business model emphasizes compliance with regulatory and industry standards to ensure ethical and transparent debt-recovery practices.

Headquartered in San Diego, California, Encore operates across North America and Europe.