Short Interest in PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) Decreases By 18.4%

PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,550,000 shares, a decrease of 18.4% from the August 15th total of 1,900,000 shares. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 512,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

PROG Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of PROG stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.01. The stock had a trading volume of 175,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 418,013. PROG has a 12 month low of $26.39 and a 12 month high of $47.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 3.87 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.93. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24 and a beta of 2.11.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $592.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $573.23 million. PROG had a net margin of 4.57% and a return on equity of 26.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PROG will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PROG Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. PROG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.59%.

Institutional Trading of PROG

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PRG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PROG during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,666,000. Breach Inlet Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PROG in the 4th quarter worth $12,572,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PROG in the 2nd quarter worth $8,794,000. SG Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PROG during the 1st quarter worth $5,932,000. Finally, Fourth Sail Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of PROG during the second quarter valued at $5,500,000. 97.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PRG shares. Loop Capital upgraded shares of 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. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of PROG from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of PROG from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on PROG in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.20.

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.