Brokerages Set PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) Price Target at $49.00

Shares of PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $49.00.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PRG. TD Cowen upgraded PROG to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of PROG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $58.00 to $29.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of PROG in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Caroline Sio-Chin Sheu bought 1,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $28.01 per share, for a total transaction of $46,216.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 18,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $512,330.91. This trade represents a 9.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Douglas C. Curling acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $29.88 per share, with a total value of $298,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 45,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,371,880.44. This trade represents a 27.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.74% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PROG

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of PROG during the third quarter worth about $1,046,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PROG during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,084,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of PROG in the fourth quarter valued at $527,000. Atom Investors LP acquired a new position in PROG in the 3rd quarter worth $4,979,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of PROG by 1.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,430,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,846,000 after acquiring an additional 30,030 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

PROG Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE:PRG opened at $26.73 on Friday. PROG has a 1 year low of $26.02 and a 1 year high of $50.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a current ratio of 5.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 2.14.

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

PROG Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. This is a positive change from PROG’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. PROG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.