Man Group plc Boosts Stock Position in PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

Man Group plc lifted its position in shares of PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 213,122 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,221 shares during the period. Man Group plc’s holdings in PROG were worth $9,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of PROG in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in PROG by 765.6% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in PROG by 141.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in PROG by 248.6% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 977 shares during the period. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PROG during the fourth quarter valued at about $68,000. Institutional investors own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on PRG shares. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on PROG from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut PROG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on PROG from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Two investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.83.

PROG Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PRG opened at $30.10 on Monday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.54. The company has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.81. PROG Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.50 and a 12 month high of $50.28.

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

PROG Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. PROG’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.66%.

Insider Activity at PROG

In related news, Director Caroline Sio-Chin Sheu purchased 1,650 shares of PROG stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $28.01 per share, for a total transaction of $46,216.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $512,330.91. This represents a 9.92% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steven A. Michaels purchased 14,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.03 per share, with a total value of $406,420.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 559,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,246,378.23. This represents a 2.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 29,150 shares of company stock worth $852,692 over the last quarter. 3.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.