Atlanticus Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:ATLC) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Atlanticus Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:ATLC) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $61.00.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ATLC shares. B. Riley upgraded shares of Atlanticus to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Atlanticus from $54.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price (up from $45.00) on shares of Atlanticus in a report on Monday, March 17th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Atlanticus during the 3rd quarter worth $313,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Atlanticus during the third quarter worth about $1,654,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in Atlanticus by 285.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,218 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 6,087 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Atlanticus by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 122,501 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Atlanticus in the 4th quarter valued at about $425,000. 14.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Atlanticus Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ATLC opened at $51.78 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $54.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.67. Atlanticus has a one year low of $23.10 and a one year high of $64.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $782.65 million, a PE ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 2.16.

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The credit services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $353.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $355.02 million. Atlanticus had a return on equity of 25.14% and a net margin of 8.39%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Atlanticus will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Atlanticus

Atlanticus Holdings Corporation, a financial technology company, provides credit and related financial services and products to customers the United States. It operates in two segments, Credit as a Service, and Auto Finance. The Credit as a Service segment originates a range of consumer loan products, such as private label and general purpose credit cards originated by lenders through various channels, including retail and healthcare, direct mail solicitation, digital marketing, and partnerships with third parties; and offers credit to their customers for the purchase of various goods and services, including consumer electronics, furniture, elective medical procedures, healthcare, and home-improvements by partnering with retailers, healthcare providers, and other service providers.