PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) Stake Reduced by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 83,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in PROG were worth $3,520,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stifel Financial Corp bought a new stake in PROG in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,046,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PROG in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $527,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PROG by 141.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of PROG by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 377,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,951,000 after buying an additional 34,020 shares during the period. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its holdings in PROG by 170.7% in the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 248,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,521,000 after buying an additional 157,006 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on PRG shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price 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 cut their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of PROG to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, PROG presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Insider Activity at PROG

In other news, Director Caroline Sio-Chin Sheu purchased 1,650 shares of PROG stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $28.01 per share, for a total transaction of $46,216.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,291 shares in the company, valued at $512,330.91. The trade was a 9.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Douglas C. Curling acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.88 per share, for a total transaction of $298,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 45,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,371,880.44. This represents a 27.85 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.74% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PROG Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PRG opened at $27.45 on Thursday. PROG Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.93 and a twelve month high of $50.28. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $34.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.06. The company has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 2.14.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that PROG Holdings, Inc. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PROG Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. This is an increase from PROG’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. PROG’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.57%.

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.