TD Cowen Upgrades PROG (NYSE:PRG) to Strong-Buy

PROG (NYSE:PRG) was upgraded by investment analysts at TD Cowen to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

PRG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of PROG from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Loop Capital upgraded PROG from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Raymond James raised 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. KeyCorp boosted their target price on PROG from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Stephens began coverage on PROG in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PROG presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.83.

PROG Stock Up 0.9 %

PRG stock opened at $48.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.48 and a beta of 2.11. PROG has a twelve month low of $26.62 and a twelve month high of $50.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 4.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.01. PROG had a net margin of 6.55% and a return on equity of 24.56%. The business had revenue of $606.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $601.86 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that PROG will post 3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Steven A. Michaels sold 27,324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.19, for a total transaction of $1,289,419.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 409,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,310,572.71. This trade represents a 6.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brian Garner sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.29, for a total transaction of $246,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,309,518.80. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 119,207 shares of company stock valued at $5,759,152. Insiders own 2.74% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PROG

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new position in PROG in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in shares of PROG in the third quarter worth $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of PROG by 72.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 805 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in PROG in the second quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in PROG during the first quarter worth about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.