PROG (NYSE:PRG) Shares Down 5.4% – What’s Next?

Shares of PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) fell 5.4% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $44.50 and last traded at $44.56. Approximately 147,391 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 405,127 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of PROG from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Loop Capital raised shares of PROG from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Raymond James raised shares of PROG from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen upgraded PROG to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on PROG in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.83.

PROG Trading Down 6.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 4.97, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 2.15. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $47.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.88.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 24.56% and a net margin of 6.55%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that PROG Holdings, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PROG Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. PROG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.30%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Steven A. Michaels sold 27,324 shares of PROG stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.19, for a total value of $1,289,419.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 409,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,310,572.71. This trade represents a 6.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Michael Todd King sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.97, for a total value of $70,455.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,738,688.49. The trade was a 3.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 119,207 shares of company stock valued at $5,759,152. 2.74% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of PROG

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Whittier Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of PROG in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PROG in the third quarter worth $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of PROG by 72.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 805 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in PROG in the second quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in PROG by 2,015.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,874 shares in the last quarter. 97.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.