World Investment Advisors Has $2.62 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

World Investment Advisors grew its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 35.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,577 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Progressive were worth $2,621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 210.0% in the first quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 93 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new position in Progressive in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Progressive by 6,350.0% in the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 1,885.7% in the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 139 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the first quarter valued at about $39,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Progressive from $312.00 to $301.38 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Progressive from $252.00 to $247.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Progressive from $266.00 to $246.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $268.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,767,027.20. The trade was a 17.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $536,977.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 43,506 shares in the company, valued at $10,532,802.60. This trade represents a 4.85% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 58,500 shares of company stock worth $14,430,089 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $206.71 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $254.67. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $206.41 and a 52-week high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $121.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.58 EPS. On average, analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.19%.

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.