Jefferies Financial Group Downgrades PROG (NYSE:PRG) to Hold

PROG (NYSE:PRG) was downgraded by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $29.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $58.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential downside of 0.53% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on PRG. TD Cowen raised PROG to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of PROG in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PROG has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

PROG Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of PROG stock opened at $29.16 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.69. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 2.18. PROG has a 12-month low of $28.43 and a 12-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.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. PROG had a net margin of 8.01% and a return on equity of 24.25%. The firm had revenue of $623.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $612.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. PROG’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that PROG will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Douglas C. Curling bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $29.88 per share, for a total transaction of $298,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 45,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,371,880.44. The trade was a 27.85 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.74% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PRG. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 76,810 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of PROG by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,564,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,373,000 after purchasing an additional 134,123 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of PROG by 6.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,776,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,137,000 after buying an additional 114,498 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of PROG by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 779,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,951,000 after acquiring an additional 209,805 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of PROG by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 562,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,773,000 after acquiring an additional 9,162 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

PROG Company 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.