PROG (NYSE:PRG) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PROG (NYSE:PRG) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on PRG. Zacks Research cut shares of PROG from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. B. Riley Financial boosted their price target on PROG from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of PROG in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on PROG from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Loop Capital cut PROG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PROG has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.44.

PROG Trading Up 4.1%

PRG stock opened at $45.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a current ratio of 4.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.57. PROG has a 52 week low of $25.80 and a 52 week high of $47.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of 12.66 and a beta of 1.79.

PROG (NYSE:PRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The fintech holding company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $719.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $713.50 million. PROG had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 21.88%. PROG has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.000-1.200 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 4.750-5.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PROG will post 4.95 earnings per share for the current year.

PROG Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. PROG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.47%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PROG

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PRG. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PROG by 19.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,911 shares of the fintech holding company’s stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in PROG in the first quarter valued at approximately $837,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in PROG by 4.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 151,827 shares of the fintech holding company’s stock valued at $4,356,000 after purchasing an additional 6,760 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in PROG by 23.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 9,589 shares of the fintech holding company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in PROG by 27.5% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 49,601 shares of the fintech holding company’s stock valued at $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 10,701 shares in the last quarter. 97.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About PROG

PROG Holdings, Inc, formerly known as Aaron’s, is a North American provider of lease-to-own and consumer finance solutions. The company operates through two primary segments: Aaron’s Business Solutions and Progressive Financial Services. Through Aaron’s Business Solutions, PROG offers customers access to furniture, electronics, home appliances and technology products via lease ownership arrangements, serving both individual consumers and small businesses.

The Progressive Financial Services segment provides lease-purchase and retail point-of-sale financing programs to customers with limited credit histories.