Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Makes New $19.08 Million Investment in PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 393,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,079,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in PROG by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,638,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,278,000 after purchasing an additional 105,101 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its position in PROG by 0.8% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 896,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,076,000 after buying an additional 6,803 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in PROG by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 684,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,746,000 after acquiring an additional 84,497 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in PROG by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 440,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,182,000 after acquiring an additional 9,807 shares during the period. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its stake in PROG by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 291,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,111,000 after acquiring an additional 3,750 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of PROG from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of PROG from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, August 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of PROG from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on PROG from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PROG currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.60.

PROG Stock Down 1.9 %

PROG stock opened at $42.09 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.18 and a beta of 2.11. PROG Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.39 and a 1-year high of $50.28. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.86. The company has a current ratio of 3.87, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 26.30% and a net margin of 4.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that PROG Holdings, Inc. will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PROG Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. PROG’s payout ratio is currently 19.59%.

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.