Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Makes New Investment in PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PROG by 141.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of PROG by 162.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 940 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of PROG by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of PROG by 2,762.2% in the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 3,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,000 after acquiring an additional 3,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of PROG by 38.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares in the last quarter. 97.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PROG Stock Performance

NYSE PRG opened at $26.52 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a current ratio of 5.24, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $36.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.97. PROG Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.99 and a twelve month high of $50.28.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last announced 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 return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 8.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that PROG Holdings, Inc. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

PROG Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from PROG’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. PROG’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Douglas C. Curling bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.88 per share, for a total transaction of $298,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 45,913 shares in the company, valued at $1,371,880.44. This represents a 27.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Caroline Sio-Chin Sheu bought 1,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $28.01 per share, with a total value of $46,216.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 18,291 shares of the company’s stock, 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PRG. TD Cowen upgraded PROG to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of PROG in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded PROG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PROG presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

PROG 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.