The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Raises Stake in PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,601 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,104 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in PROG were worth $1,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PRG. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in PROG in the 3rd quarter valued at about $453,000. Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in PROG by 60.3% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 101,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,901,000 after buying an additional 38,025 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in PROG in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,598,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in PROG in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,084,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in PROG in the 3rd quarter valued at about $505,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at PROG

In related news, CFO Brian Garner sold 15,484 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.27, for a total transaction of $747,412.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 92,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,452,231.72. This trade represents a 14.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Curtis Linn Doman sold 3,584 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.02, for a total value of $172,103.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 250,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,050,138.80. This represents a 1.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 119,207 shares of company stock valued at $5,759,152. 2.74% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital upgraded PROG from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on PROG from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James upgraded PROG from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp upped their price target on PROG from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, TD Cowen raised PROG to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $53.83.

PROG Stock Performance

PRG stock opened at $48.12 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.97, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33 and a beta of 2.15. PROG Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.84 and a 12-month high of $50.28. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.85.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.01. PROG had a return on equity of 24.56% and a net margin of 6.55%. The business had revenue of $606.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $601.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PROG Holdings, Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

PROG Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. PROG’s payout ratio is 13.30%.

PROG Company 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.