Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

ATLC has been the subject of several other research reports. BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Atlanticus from $105.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Texas Capital raised shares of Atlanticus from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Atlanticus from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Atlanticus in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Atlanticus in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.00.

Atlanticus Trading Down 2.1%

NASDAQ:ATLC opened at $91.03 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Atlanticus has a 1-year low of $47.50 and a 1-year high of $114.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84 and a beta of 2.02. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $97.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.14.

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $744.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.35 million. Atlanticus had a return on equity of 25.17% and a net margin of 5.80%. On average, equities analysts expect that Atlanticus will post 9.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atlanticus

In other news, CAO Mitchell Saunders sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.20, for a total transaction of $1,022,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,273 shares in the company, valued at $4,729,100.60. This represents a 17.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Howard sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.01, for a total transaction of $1,030,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 663,265 shares in the company, valued at $68,322,927.65. This trade represents a 1.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 75,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,868,627 over the last quarter. 51.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atlanticus

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ATLC. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in Atlanticus during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Inspire Investing LLC bought a new position in Atlanticus in the first quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in Atlanticus during the second quarter worth $208,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Atlanticus in the 2nd quarter valued at $255,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of Atlanticus during the 2nd quarter worth $269,000. 14.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Atlanticus Company Profile

Atlanticus Holdings Corporation is a financial technology company that provides credit and related financial services to consumers, particularly those who may have limited access to traditional lending products. The company works with merchants, financial institutions and other business partners to offer financing options at the point of sale and through direct-to-consumer channels.

Its consumer finance activities include retail credit programs, private-label and general-purpose credit cards, personal lending products and other installment financing.