Martingale Asset Management L P Increases Stake in PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

Martingale Asset Management L P raised its stake in PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 6.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 34,634 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,042 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P’s holdings in PROG were worth $1,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PRG. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of PROG in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PROG in the third quarter worth about $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of PROG by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 805 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of PROG during the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in shares of PROG in the 1st quarter valued at about $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

PROG Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of PRG stock opened at $48.66 on Monday. PROG Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.62 and a fifty-two week high of $50.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48 and a beta of 2.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $47.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a current ratio of 4.97.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. PROG had a return on equity of 24.56% and a net margin of 6.55%. The business had revenue of $606.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $601.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that PROG Holdings, Inc. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PROG Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. PROG’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PROG news, VP George M. Sewell sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.88, for a total value of $171,080.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 12,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $617,794.32. The trade was a 21.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Brian Garner sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.29, for a total value of $246,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,309,518.80. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 119,207 shares of company stock valued at $5,759,152 over the last quarter. 2.74% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on PROG from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Stephens initiated coverage on PROG in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Loop Capital raised shares of PROG from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $41.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Raymond James upgraded shares of PROG from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of PROG to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.83.

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.