United Advisor Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

United Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 22.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,216 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,299 shares during the quarter. United Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the first quarter worth about $1,034,000. Harrell Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter worth approximately $731,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 51.6% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Progressive by 2.7% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $19,426,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC increased its position in Progressive by 4.4% during the first quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 3,024 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $260.31 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $275.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $264.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $204.88 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company has a market capitalization of $152.60 billion, a PE ratio of 17.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.50% and a net margin of 11.10%. On average, research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on PGR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm increased their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. This trade represents a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total transaction of $110,016.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. This represents a 4.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 34,517 shares of company stock worth $9,451,821. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.