Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases New Stake in Encore Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECPG)

Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Encore Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECPG) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 5,272 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 900,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $42,575,000 after buying an additional 2,597 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in Encore Capital Group by 191.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 49,719 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,350,000 after buying an additional 32,672 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 197,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,355,000 after purchasing an additional 36,822 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Encore Capital Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 570,047 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,952,000 after purchasing an additional 13,648 shares during the period. Finally, Sheets Smith Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Encore Capital Group by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 14,278 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $682,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In other Encore Capital Group news, Director Ashwini Gupta purchased 40,000 shares of Encore Capital Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $35.10 per share, with a total value of $1,404,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 96,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,401,505.90. This trade represents a 70.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ashish Masih acquired 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $35.14 per share, for a total transaction of $702,800.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 322,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,324,005.56. This trade represents a 6.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on ECPG. Northland Securities boosted their target price on shares of Encore Capital Group from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Encore Capital Group from $64.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Encore Capital Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $62.67.

Encore Capital Group Stock Up 3.0 %

ECPG stock opened at $30.41 on Friday. Encore Capital Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.45 and a 1-year high of $51.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The stock has a market cap of $720.44 million, a P/E ratio of -3.87 and a beta of 1.58.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The asset manager reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.55 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $265.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $373.40 million. Encore Capital Group had a positive return on equity of 12.70% and a negative net margin of 13.91%. Analysts expect that Encore Capital Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Encore Capital Group Company Profile

Encore Capital Group, Inc, a specialty finance company, provides debt recovery solutions and other related services for consumers across financial assets worldwide. The company purchases portfolios of defaulted consumer receivables at deep discounts to face value, as well as manages them by working with individuals as they repay their obligations and works toward financial recovery.