Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Makes New Investment in Atlanticus Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:ATLC)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Atlanticus Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:ATLC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,620 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $425,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATLC. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Atlanticus by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 8,128 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $453,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Atlanticus by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 804 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in Atlanticus by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 7,454 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $416,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Atlanticus by 393.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,283 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in Atlanticus by 158.8% in the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 1,823 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 14.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ATLC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price (up previously from $45.00) on shares of Atlanticus in a research report on Monday, March 17th. B. Riley raised Atlanticus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their target price on Atlanticus from $54.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $61.00.

Atlanticus Stock Performance

ATLC opened at $50.51 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.82. The company has a market capitalization of $763.46 million, a PE ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 2.16. Atlanticus Holdings Co. has a 1 year low of $23.10 and a 1 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.

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The credit services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $353.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $355.02 million. Atlanticus had a return on equity of 25.14% and a net margin of 8.39%. Research analysts expect that Atlanticus Holdings Co. will post 4.49 EPS for the current 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.