Focus Partners Wealth Purchases 7,496 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 112,592 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,496 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Progressive were worth $26,988,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PGR. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total value of $2,799,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 269,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,462,306.04. The trade was a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares in the company, valued at $180,891.35. This represents a 35.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.65.

Progressive Trading Up 0.1%

Progressive stock opened at $284.33 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $166.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.75, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $275.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $260.46.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.70%.

About Progressive

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.