Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Decreases Stake in PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. reduced its holdings in PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 679,779 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,185 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned approximately 1.64% of PROG worth $28,727,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PROG by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,937,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,646,000 after buying an additional 76,810 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of PROG by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,564,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,373,000 after buying an additional 134,123 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of PROG by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 779,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,951,000 after buying an additional 209,805 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of PROG by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 562,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,773,000 after buying an additional 9,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in PROG by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 517,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,890,000 after purchasing an additional 33,991 shares during the last quarter. 97.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PROG Price Performance

Shares of PRG opened at $27.89 on Monday. PROG Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.50 and a 1-year high of $50.28. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.81. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 5.24 and a quick ratio of 2.34.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.08. PROG had a net margin of 8.01% and a return on equity of 24.25%. The business had revenue of $684.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $678.23 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that PROG Holdings, Inc. will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

PROG Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 20th. PROG’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PROG

In other PROG news, Director Douglas C. Curling acquired 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, with a total value 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 trade represents a 27.85% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Caroline Sio-Chin Sheu acquired 1,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 trade represents a 9.92% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 3.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of PROG from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of PROG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of PROG from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.83.

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.