Providence First Trust Co Acquires Shares of 785 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Providence First Trust Co purchased a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 785 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $188,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its holdings in Progressive by 1,650.0% during the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PGR. Bank of America upped their price target on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,645,222.40. This represents a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,361 shares of company stock worth $11,302,675 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of PGR opened at $282.02 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $186.94 and a fifty-two week high of $282.40. The firm has a market cap of $165.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $250.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $250.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted 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 33.79%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

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.