Financial Strategies Group Inc. Purchases 3,205 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Financial Strategies Group Inc. raised its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 13.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,929 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,205 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for 1.5% of Financial Strategies Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Financial Strategies Group Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $5,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PGR. TCW Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,988,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $3,090,000. Invesco LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 3,537 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $563,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 168,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,788,000 after purchasing an additional 4,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 210,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,522,000 after buying an additional 4,443 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Progressive from $230.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, June 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $216.81.

Progressive Trading Up 0.5 %

PGR stock traded up $1.09 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $210.55. The company had a trading volume of 824,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,579,046. The stock has a market cap of $123.32 billion, a PE ratio of 21.47, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $209.49 and a 200-day moving average of $193.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $111.41 and a one year high of $217.77.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total value of $135,271.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares in the company, valued at $828,485.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total value of $135,271.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 34,518 shares of company stock valued at $7,159,674 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company 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.