Spire Wealth Management Buys 3,492 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 42.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,492 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,817,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 20.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 237 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 16.5% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.7% during the third quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 1,712 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Washington Trust Bank increased its position in shares of Progressive by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 1,024 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $246.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.57 billion, a PE ratio of 17.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.41. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $176.37 and a fifty-two week high of $270.62. The company has a fifty day moving average of $247.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $244.75.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 34.32%. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Company 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.