Values First Advisors Inc. Buys 3,804 Shares of The Aaron’s Company, Inc. (NYSE:AAN)

Values First Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of The Aaron’s Company, Inc. (NYSE:AAN) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,229 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,804 shares during the quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. owned 0.18% of Aaron’s worth $590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAN. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aaron’s by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,955,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,209,000 after acquiring an additional 39,111 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aaron’s by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,976,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,853,000 after acquiring an additional 221,788 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Aaron’s by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,743,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,660,000 after acquiring an additional 94,387 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Aaron’s by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,282,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,800,000 after acquiring an additional 12,461 shares during the period. Finally, Palisade Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Aaron’s by 5.1% during the second quarter. Palisade Capital Management LP now owns 1,249,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,662,000 after buying an additional 61,013 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aaron’s Price Performance

AAN traded up $0.09 on Thursday, reaching $7.50. The company had a trading volume of 309,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 284,641. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.45. The company has a market cap of $236.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.75 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.04. The Aaron’s Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.72 and a 52-week high of $16.16.

Aaron’s (NYSE:AAN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.29). The company had revenue of $529.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $542.07 million. Aaron’s had a net margin of 0.13% and a return on equity of 3.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Aaron’s Company, Inc. will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Aaron’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. Aaron’s’s payout ratio is currently 625.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aaron’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 16th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Aaron’s in a report on Friday, March 8th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Aaron’s in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Stephens upgraded shares of Aaron’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Aaron’s from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aaron’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.11.

About Aaron’s

Headquartered in Atlanta, The Aaron’s Company, Inc (NYSE: AAN) is a leading, technology-enabled, omnichannel provider of lease-purchase solutions. Aaron’s engages in direct-to-consumer sales and lease ownership of furniture, appliances, consumer electronics and accessories through its approximately 1,300 company-operated and franchised stores in 47 states and Canada, as well as its e-commerce platform, Aarons.com.