PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) Short Interest Update

PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,690,000 shares, a drop of 30.5% from the February 13th total of 2,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 491,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days. Approximately 4.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PRG shares. TD Cowen raised shares of PROG to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of PROG in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of PROG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PROG has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

PROG Stock Up 2.1 %

PRG stock opened at $26.73 on Friday. PROG has a 12-month low of $26.02 and a 12-month high of $50.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 5.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.14.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. PROG had a net margin of 8.01% and a return on equity of 24.25%. The company had revenue of $623.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $612.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that PROG will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PROG Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 1.95%. This is an increase from PROG’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. PROG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Stifel Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of PROG during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,046,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in PROG in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,084,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in PROG in the 4th quarter valued at $527,000. Atom Investors LP acquired a new position in PROG in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,979,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in PROG by 141.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

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.