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

Atlanticus Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:ATLC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $61.00.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atlanticus

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Atlanticus by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,079 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Atlanticus by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 8,128 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Atlanticus by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,413 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Atlanticus by 229.4% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 728 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Atlanticus by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,168 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $511,000 after buying an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. 14.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Atlanticus Trading Down 1.7 %

Atlanticus stock opened at $51.90 on Wednesday. Atlanticus has a 52-week low of $23.10 and a 52-week high of $64.70. The company has a market cap of $784.47 million, a P/E ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.21.

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) last announced its 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. Atlanticus had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 25.14%. The company had revenue of $353.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $355.02 million. Analysts predict that Atlanticus will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

Atlanticus Company Profile

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.