PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) Short Interest Down 30.5% in February

PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of 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. Approximately 4.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 491,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days.

PROG Price Performance

NYSE:PRG opened at $26.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $36.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 5.24 and a quick ratio of 2.34. PROG has a 1-year low of $25.99 and a 1-year high of $50.28.

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

PROG Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from PROG’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. PROG’s payout ratio is 10.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PROG news, Director Douglas C. Curling bought 10,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Caroline Sio-Chin Sheu purchased 1,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $28.01 per share, for a total transaction of $46,216.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $512,330.91. This 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 Investors Weigh In On PROG

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in PROG during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in PROG by 765.6% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of PROG by 248.6% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of PROG by 162.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 940 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on PRG. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of PROG in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of PROG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, TD Cowen raised 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 assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

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.