GSA Capital Partners LLP Takes $1.96 Million Position in Aaron's Holdings Company, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Aaron's Holdings Company, Inc., purchasing 73,593 shares valued at approximately $1.96 million, representing 0.18% of the company.
• Insider transactions included a purchase from CFO Brian Garner of 3,500 shares and CEO Steven A. Michaels of 14,000 shares, indicating confidence in the company's prospects.
• Recent analyst changes include a downgrade from "buy" to "hold" by Wall Street Zen, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target of $41.00 for the stock.

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Aaron's Holdings Company, Inc. (NYSE:PRG - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 73,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,958,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP owned approximately 0.18% of Aaron's as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Aaron's by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,937,208 shares of the company's stock worth $208,646,000 after buying an additional 76,810 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aaron's by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,564,441 shares of the company's stock valued at $108,373,000 after purchasing an additional 134,123 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Aaron's by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 907,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,129,000 after purchasing an additional 127,384 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Aaron's by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 562,539 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,773,000 after purchasing an additional 9,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Aaron's by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 517,984 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,890,000 after purchasing an additional 33,991 shares during the last quarter. 97.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Loop Capital cut 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. KeyCorp lowered their target price 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. BTIG Research lowered shares of Aaron's from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Aaron's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.00.

Aaron's Trading Down 4.6%

Shares of PRG traded down $1.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $30.38. The company had a trading volume of 366,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 506,481. Aaron's Holdings Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.50 and a 1-year high of $50.28. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.82. The company has a quick ratio of 2.82, a current ratio of 5.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Aaron's (NYSE:PRG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.23. Aaron's had a return on equity of 22.54% and a net margin of 8.53%. The company had revenue of $604.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $586.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Aaron's Holdings Company, Inc. will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aaron's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 20th. Aaron's's dividend payout ratio is 10.28%.

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.