Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) Stake Raised by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 2,450.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,955 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 17,251 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Aaron’s were worth $478,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aaron’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aaron’s by 765.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 957 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aaron’s by 141.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Aaron’s 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 acquiring an additional 977 shares during the period. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aaron’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Institutional investors own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Brian Garner acquired 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $28.93 per share, for a total transaction of $101,255.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 132,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,836,031.21. This trade represents a 2.71% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven A. Michaels acquired 14,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.03 per share, for a total transaction of $406,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 559,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,246,378.23. This represents a 2.57% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aaron’s Trading Down 2.1%

Aaron’s stock opened at $27.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 4.98. The firm has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.71 and a beta of 1.79. Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.50 and a 1 year high of $50.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.63.

Aaron’s (NYSE:PRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $684.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $678.23 million. Aaron’s had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 23.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aaron’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Aaron’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Aaron’s from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Aaron’s from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Aaron’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $44.83.

About Aaron’s

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.