Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Lowers Stock Holdings in Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,979 shares of the company’s stock after selling 805 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Aaron’s were worth $585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aaron’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aaron’s by 765.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aaron’s by 141.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aaron’s by 248.6% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aaron’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,000. 97.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aaron’s news, CFO Brian Garner acquired 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $28.93 per share, with a total value of $101,255.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 132,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,836,031.21. The trade was a 2.71% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Steven A. Michaels purchased 14,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $29.03 per share, for a total transaction of $406,420.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 559,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,246,378.23. This trade represents a 2.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Aaron’s from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on Aaron’s from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $44.83.

Aaron’s Stock Down 0.1%

PRG opened at $30.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 4.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.50 and a twelve month high of $50.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 1.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $28.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.43.

Aaron’s (NYSE:PRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.08. Aaron’s had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 23.11%. The business had revenue of $684.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $678.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Aaron’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 20th. Aaron’s’s payout ratio is 10.66%.

Aaron’s Profile

PROG Holdings, Inc (NYSE:PRG) is a financial technology holding company based in Salt Lake City, Utah with three business segments: Progressive Leasing, which offers lease-to-own transactions primarily to credit-challenged consumers through e-commerce and point-of-sale retail partners, via online, mobile, and in-store solutions; Vive Financial, which provides consumers who may not qualify for traditional prime lending with a variety of second-look, revolving credit products through private label and branded credit cards; and Four Technologies, which provides consumers of all credit backgrounds Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options through four interest-free installments via its platform, Four.