PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) Shares Up 4.9% – What’s Next?

PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) shot up 4.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $15.78 and last traded at $15.7810. 173,074 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 499,496 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on PRAA. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PRA Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of PRA Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PRA Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

PRA Group Stock Up 6.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $610.62 million, a P/E ratio of -2.24 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $17.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.47.

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The business services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $314.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $295.90 million. PRA Group had a negative net margin of 22.51% and a positive return on equity of 13.19%. Analysts anticipate that PRA Group, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PRA Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PRAA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in PRA Group by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 23,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 4,010 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in PRA Group by 28.8% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,446 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $213,000 after acquiring an additional 3,229 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in PRA Group by 59.1% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 217,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,213,000 after purchasing an additional 80,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of PRA Group by 15.5% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 819,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,091,000 after purchasing an additional 109,857 shares in the last quarter. 97.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PRA Group Company Profile

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.