Propel (TSE:PRL) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Propel Holdings Inc. (TSE:PRL)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $29.81 and last traded at $28.86, with a volume of 403,623 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on PRL shares. Scotia upped their price objective on Propel from C$27.00 to C$29.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Ventum Capital raised their target price on shares of Propel from C$34.00 to C$38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Propel from C$38.00 to C$40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Ventum upped their price target on shares of Propel from C$30.00 to C$34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, TD set a C$37.00 price objective on shares of Propel and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Propel Stock Up 1.5%

The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 21.60 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.43.

Propel (TSE:PRL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $201.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $279.95 million. Propel had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 8.68%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Propel Holdings Inc. will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Propel Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Propel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.2550. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 26th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Propel’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Propel news, insider Cindy Usprech sold 9,196 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.86, for a total transaction of $237,808.56. 33.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Propel

Propel Holdings Inc is a financial technology company committed to credit inclusion and helping underserved consumers by providing fair, fast, and transparent access to credit. It operates through its two brands: MoneyKey and CreditFresh. The company, through its MoneyKey brand, is a state-licensed direct lender and offers either Installment Loans or Lines of Credit to new customers in several US states. Through its CreditFresh brand, the company operates as a bank servicer that provides marketing, technology, and loan servicing services to unaffiliated, FDIC insured, state-chartered banks in the US (Bank Program).