State of Alaska Department of Revenue Decreases Stake in Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue decreased its position in Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,019 shares of the company’s stock after selling 591 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue owned 0.06% of Aaron’s worth $612,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in Aaron’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,577,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Aaron’s by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 144,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,105,000 after acquiring an additional 23,536 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of Aaron’s by 41.9% during the 1st quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 105,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,797,000 after acquiring an additional 31,073 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Aaron’s by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 354,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,999,000 after acquiring an additional 18,843 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Aaron’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $527,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

Aaron’s Stock Up 0.5%

PRG opened at $29.64 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.26 and a 200 day moving average of $32.75. The company has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 1.79. Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.50 and a 12 month high of $50.28. The company has a current ratio of 4.98, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Aaron’s (NYSE:PRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $684.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $678.23 million. Aaron’s had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 23.11%. Aaron’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Aaron’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. Aaron’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PRG. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Aaron’s from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Aaron’s from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Brian Garner acquired 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 $3,836,031.21. This represents a 2.71% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven A. Michaels acquired 14,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $29.03 per share, for a total transaction of $406,420.00. Following 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. Corporate insiders own 3.21% of the company’s stock.

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.