Stephens Begins Coverage on PROG (NYSE:PRG)

Stephens initiated coverage on shares of PROG (NYSE:PRG) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock.

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

PROG Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of PRG stock opened at $47.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 4.97 and a quick ratio of 2.34. The company has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.22 and a beta of 2.11. PROG has a 1 year low of $26.39 and a 1 year high of $50.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $46.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.29.

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

PROG Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other PROG news, VP George M. Sewell sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.88, for a total transaction of $171,080.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $617,794.32. This represents a 21.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven A. Michaels sold 27,324 shares of PROG stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.19, for a total value of $1,289,419.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 409,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,310,572.71. This trade represents a 6.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 119,207 shares of company stock worth $5,759,152. Corporate insiders own 2.74% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PROG

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of PROG by 72.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 805 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of PROG by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 7,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in PROG by 1.4% during the first 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 during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its position in PROG by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 12,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new position in PROG during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. 97.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.