PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $49.00.

A number of research firms recently commented on PRG. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of PROG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of PROG in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd.

Insider Activity at PROG

In other PROG news, Director Caroline Sio-Chin Sheu acquired 1,650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $28.01 per share, with a total value of $46,216.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,291 shares in the company, valued at $512,330.91. The trade was a 9.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Douglas C. Curling bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $29.88 per share, for a total transaction of $298,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,371,880.44. This trade represents a 27.85 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.74% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of PROG

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PRG. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of PROG by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 23,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $980,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PROG by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 19,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $833,000 after buying an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its position in shares of PROG by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 39,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,649,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its stake in shares of PROG by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 5,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PROG by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $684,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

PROG Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:PRG opened at $28.16 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 2.14. PROG has a 12 month low of $25.93 and a 12 month high of $50.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.24, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.43.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $623.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $612.67 million. PROG had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 8.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PROG will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

PROG Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from PROG’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. PROG’s payout ratio is currently 10.57%.

About PROG

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.