Royce & Associates LP Sells 6,710 Shares of PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

Royce & Associates LP lowered its stake in shares of PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,835 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,710 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in PROG were worth $1,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Stifel Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of PROG in the 3rd quarter worth $1,046,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in PROG in the 4th quarter worth about $527,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in PROG in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,084,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PROG by 141.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of PROG by 170.7% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 248,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,521,000 after buying an additional 157,006 shares in the last quarter. 97.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PROG Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of PRG opened at $27.23 on Friday. PROG Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.93 and a fifty-two week high of $50.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.09 and a 200 day moving average of $42.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a current ratio of 5.24.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm 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 company’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that PROG Holdings, Inc. will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

PROG Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.13 dividend. This is a positive change from PROG’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. PROG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Caroline Sio-Chin Sheu acquired 1,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $28.01 per share, for a total transaction of $46,216.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $512,330.91. The trade was a 9.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Douglas C. Curling acquired 10,000 shares of PROG stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 $1,371,880.44. This represents a 27.85 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.74% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on PRG. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded PROG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $58.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of PROG in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of PROG to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PROG presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.00.

PROG 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.