Wedmont Private Capital Purchases 5,603 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 72.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,293 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,603 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive during the second quarter valued at about $10,496,271,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,682,342,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. GQG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,538,570,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,098,838,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $218.41 on Monday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $249.71. The company has a market capitalization of $126.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $217.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $207.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Progressive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.26.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.40, for a total transaction of $268,765.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,857,785.80. This trade represents a 3.77% 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, CFO Andrew Quigg sold 3,499 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $769,780.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 42,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,370,900. This trade represents a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 113,714 shares of company stock worth $24,466,294. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Company 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.