Vaughan David Investments LLC IL Buys 111,355 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Vaughan David Investments LLC IL increased its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 4,331.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 113,926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 111,355 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL’s holdings in Progressive were worth $25,943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,584,067,000 after acquiring an additional 593,612 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after acquiring an additional 78,374 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,398,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217,527 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314,864 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,836,094,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,258,000. This represents a 12.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $202.41 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $269.84. The company has a market cap of $118.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.29, a P/E/G ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $199.01 and its 200 day moving average is $208.09.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Progressive from $218.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Bank of America reduced their price target on Progressive from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Argus upgraded Progressive to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.11.

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.