The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Bought by Stephens Inc. AR

Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 32.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,717 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Progressive were worth $6,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 106.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 700.0% during the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 144 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,258,000. This trade represents a 12.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.76, for a total value of $236,907.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,633,152.36. This trade represents a 4.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 15,230 shares of company stock valued at $3,165,817 over the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $313.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Barclays set a $247.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. HSBC boosted their target price on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $205.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, June 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.37.

Progressive Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of PGR traded up $5.96 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $237.63. The stock had a trading volume of 602,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,290,814. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $254.93. The firm has a market cap of $138.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.09, a P/E/G ratio of 7.03 and a beta of 0.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $203.97 and its 200 day moving average is $206.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. Progressive’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.03%.

Progressive Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.