JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 105,179 Shares of PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 115.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 196,260 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 105,179 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.47% of PROG worth $8,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in PROG by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 19,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $833,000 after buying an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in PROG by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $684,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in PROG by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 74,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,130,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in PROG by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PROG by 141.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on PRG shares. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of PROG in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of PROG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $58.00 to $29.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PROG presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

PROG Price Performance

NYSE:PRG opened at $25.68 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 5.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. PROG Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.50 and a 12-month high of $50.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 1.96.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. PROG had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 8.01%. The firm had revenue of $623.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $612.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that PROG Holdings, Inc. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

PROG Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This is a positive change from PROG’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. PROG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Caroline Sio-Chin Sheu acquired 1,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $28.01 per share, with a total value of $46,216.50. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Douglas C. Curling acquired 10,000 shares of PROG stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $29.88 per share, for a total transaction of $298,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 45,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,371,880.44. The trade was a 27.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.74% of the company’s stock.

PROG 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.