PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) Short Interest Down 18.4% in August

PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,550,000 shares, a decline of 18.4% from the August 15th total of 1,900,000 shares. Currently, 3.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 512,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

PROG Price Performance

Shares of PRG opened at $46.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 3.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 18.92 and a beta of 2.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.82. PROG has a twelve month low of $26.39 and a twelve month high of $47.85.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $592.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $573.23 million. PROG had a net margin of 4.57% and a return on equity of 26.30%. PROG’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that PROG will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PROG Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. PROG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of PROG by 218.2% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 66,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,057,000 after purchasing an additional 45,631 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in PROG in the 4th quarter worth $430,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in PROG during the 4th quarter worth $12,666,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in PROG during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,056,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of PROG by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 431,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,322,000 after purchasing an additional 2,552 shares during the period. 97.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on PRG. Loop Capital upgraded PROG from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, August 19th. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of PROG in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of PROG from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of PROG from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PROG presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.20.

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.