Matrix Trust Co Buys 221 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Matrix Trust Co increased its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 36.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 826 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co’s holdings in Progressive were worth $234,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its stake in Progressive by 119.0% in the first quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $288.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America raised Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.59.

Progressive Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of PGR stock opened at $282.18 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $165.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $276.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $264.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.70%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $479,391.36. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 26,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,546,174.02. The trade was a 5.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,755 shares of company stock worth $10,367,074 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.