Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Stake in Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 354,265 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,183 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.87% of Aaron’s worth $9,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Aaron’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $527,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Aaron’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $620,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in Aaron’s by 72.5% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 159,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,751,000 after purchasing an additional 67,118 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Aaron’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $380,000. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Aaron’s by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 6,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061 shares during the last quarter. 97.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aaron’s Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Aaron’s stock opened at $28.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.98, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.30. The company has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.79 and a beta of 1.76. Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.50 and a 12-month high of $50.28.

Aaron’s (NYSE:PRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $684.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. will post 3.45 earnings per share 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 dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 20th. Aaron’s’s payout ratio is currently 10.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on PRG. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Aaron’s from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Aaron’s from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Aaron’s from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aaron’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.86.

Aaron’s 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.