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

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its stake in shares of Aaron’s Holdings Company, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,019 shares of the company’s stock after selling 591 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Aaron’s were worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PRG. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Aaron’s by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 201,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,521,000 after buying an additional 2,015 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Aaron’s by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 377,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,951,000 after purchasing an additional 34,020 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in Aaron’s by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 46,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 5,944 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Aaron’s in the 4th quarter worth $527,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Aaron’s by 141.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on PRG. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Aaron’s from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. KeyCorp decreased 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 report on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.83.

Aaron’s Price Performance

Shares of Aaron’s stock opened at $29.64 on Friday. The firm 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 quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 4.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.75.

Aaron’s (NYSE:PRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $684.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $678.23 million. Aaron’s had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 23.11%. The company’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. Aaron’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Steven A. Michaels bought 14,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.03 per share, with a total value of $406,420.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Brian Garner bought 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $28.93 per share, for a total transaction of $101,255.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 132,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,836,031.21. This represents a 2.71% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.21% of the company’s stock.

Aaron’s 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.