Stephens Initiates Coverage on PROG (NYSE:PRG)

Stephens began coverage on shares of PROG (NYSE:PRG) in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on PRG. Loop Capital raised PROG from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on PROG from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James upgraded PROG from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on PROG from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on PROG from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.83.

PROG Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:PRG traded down $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $47.72. 330,614 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 410,343. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.23. PROG has a 52 week low of $26.39 and a 52 week high of $50.28. The company has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.22 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a current ratio of 4.97, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $606.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $601.86 million. PROG had a return on equity of 24.56% and a net margin of 6.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that PROG will post 3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PROG Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. PROG’s payout ratio is 13.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Curtis Linn Doman sold 62,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.75, for a total transaction of $3,062,231.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 174,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,508,045. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP George M. Sewell sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.88, for a total value of $171,080.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $617,794.32. This trade represents a 21.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 119,207 shares of company stock worth $5,759,152. 2.74% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PROG

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PRG. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in PROG by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 39,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new position in PROG in the 1st quarter worth about $815,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in PROG by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in PROG by 54.3% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 20,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $703,000 after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in PROG by 83.6% in the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 260,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,979,000 after purchasing an additional 118,698 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

PROG Company 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.