Souders Financial Advisors Raises Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Souders Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Souders Financial Advisors’ holdings in Progressive were worth $538,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $281.84 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $165.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average of $252.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $252.11. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $191.00 and a 12-month high of $287.49.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $14,102,075 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PGR. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.59.

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.