Douglas C. Curling Buys 10,000 Shares of PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) Stock

PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) Director Douglas C. Curling acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $29.88 per share, for a total transaction of $298,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 45,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,371,880.44. The trade was a 27.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

PROG Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PRG opened at $27.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 2.18. PROG Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.62 and a 12 month high of $50.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 5.24 and a quick ratio of 2.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.58.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $623.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $612.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that PROG Holdings, Inc. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

PROG Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This is an increase from PROG’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. PROG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PRG. Jefferies Financial Group lowered PROG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of PROG in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of PROG to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Two research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.00.

Institutional Trading of PROG

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PRG. Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new stake in PROG during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,046,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PROG during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,084,000. Atom Investors LP acquired a new stake in shares of PROG during the third quarter worth approximately $4,979,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of PROG by 1.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,430,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,846,000 after buying an additional 30,030 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PROG in the third quarter worth $1,972,000. 97.92% of the stock is 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.