PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) Short Interest Down 19.0% in May

PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,380,000 shares, a drop of 19.0% from the April 30th total of 2,940,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 590,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days. Currently, 6.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity at PROG

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

Institutional Trading of PROG

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of PROG by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,005,577 shares of the company's stock valued at $133,148,000 after acquiring an additional 68,369 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of PROG 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 acquiring an additional 134,123 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of PROG 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 acquiring an additional 127,384 shares during the last quarter. Breach Inlet Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of PROG by 140.7% during the 1st quarter. Breach Inlet Capital Management LLC now owns 703,849 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,722,000 after acquiring an additional 411,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vulcan Value Partners LLC raised its position in shares of PROG by 84.3% during the 1st quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 681,746 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,134,000 after acquiring an additional 311,917 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.92% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded PROG from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $29.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of PROG from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of PROG from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.83.

PROG Trading Up 0.1%

PRG stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $29.09. The company had a trading volume of 322,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 475,922. The company has a quick ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 5.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.80. PROG has a 12 month low of $23.50 and a 12 month high of $50.28. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.41 and a beta of 1.79.

PROG (NYSE:PRG - Get Free Report) 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. PROG had a net margin of 8.01% and a return on equity of 24.25%. The firm had revenue of $684.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $678.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. PROG's revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that PROG will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

PROG Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 20th. PROG's payout ratio is 10.66%.

About PROG

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.