PROG (NYSE:PRG) Upgraded at TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of PROG (NYSE:PRG) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on PRG. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of PROG from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on PROG from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Loop Capital raised PROG from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Stephens began coverage on PROG in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James upgraded PROG from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PROG presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.83.

PROG Stock Performance

Shares of PRG stock opened at $48.66 on Friday. 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 has a 12-month low of $26.62 and a 12-month high of $50.28. The business’s 50 day moving average is $47.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.24. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48 and a beta of 2.11.

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

PROG Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. PROG’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.30%.

Insider Activity at PROG

In other PROG news, CFO Brian Garner sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.29, for a total value of $246,450.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,309,518.80. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $171,080.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $617,794.32. The trade was a 21.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 119,207 shares of company stock worth $5,759,152. Company insiders own 2.74% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PROG

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of PROG in the 3rd quarter valued at about $19,079,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in PROG during the second quarter worth approximately $8,794,000. Fourth Sail Capital LP purchased a new stake in PROG in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,500,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PROG by 497.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 160,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,580,000 after acquiring an additional 133,972 shares during the period. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PROG by 476.7% in the third quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 150,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,298,000 after acquiring an additional 124,397 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.