Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Sells 11,995 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 85.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,032 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 11,995 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its position in Progressive by 235.1% during the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 700.0% in the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 144 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Progressive in the first quarter worth $31,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE PGR opened at $209.48 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $254.93. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $121.79 billion, a PE ratio of 10.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Evercore set a $240.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $231.00 to $226.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $235.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total transaction of $1,727,974.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,782,595.70. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 22,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,877,376.18. The trade was a 23.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 74,885 shares of company stock worth $15,880,459 over the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.