MJP Associates Inc. ADV Takes $556,000 Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,687 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $556,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sachetta LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 143.6% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.8 %

PGR stock traded down $1.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $209.19. 3,950,714 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,324,754. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $209.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $191.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.41, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $111.41 and a 52-week high of $217.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.33 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on PGR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $230.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $216.81.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total value of $1,525,567.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,503 shares in the company, valued at $7,357,996.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total transaction of $2,546,584.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 312,958 shares in the company, valued at $63,978,003.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total value of $1,525,567.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 35,503 shares in the company, valued at $7,357,996.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,468 shares of company stock worth $4,415,753 over the last three months. 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.