Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:ATLC) Receives $126.00 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:ATLC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $126.00.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ATLC. Weiss Ratings raised Atlanticus from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Atlanticus from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Atlanticus from $105.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Capital One Financial set a $144.00 target price on Atlanticus in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, William Blair set a $100.00 price target on Atlanticus in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey A. Howard sold 10,000 shares of Atlanticus stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 1.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 owned 46,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,729,100.60. This represents a 17.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 75,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,868,627 over the last three months. 51.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Atlanticus by 274.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 23,314 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,193,000 after purchasing an additional 17,091 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Atlanticus during the 1st quarter valued at $1,083,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Atlanticus during the 1st quarter valued at $71,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Atlanticus by 47.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 38,312 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,960,000 after buying an additional 12,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Atlanticus by 241.1% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 18,039 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $988,000 after buying an additional 12,751 shares in the last quarter. 14.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Atlanticus Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ATLC opened at $100.68 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Atlanticus has a twelve month low of $45.74 and a twelve month high of $112.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.03 and a beta of 2.11.

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The credit services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $679.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $749.36 million. Atlanticus had a return on equity of 23.43% and a net margin of 5.86%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Atlanticus will post 9.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Atlanticus

Atlanticus Holdings Corporation is a specialty financial services holding company that provides credit products and solutions to consumers across the United States. Through its subsidiaries, the company offers proprietary credit card programs, installment loan products and deposit accounts designed to serve customers who may have limited access to traditional credit. Atlanticus markets its offerings through a variety of channels, including direct‐to‐consumer online platforms, mail order, call centers and partnerships with retail and e-commerce businesses.

The company underwrites and services credit card portfolios under private-label and co-branded agreements, combining technology‐enabled underwriting with tailored customer service.