Frederick Financial Consultants LLC Acquires New Shares in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Frederick Financial Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 818 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bailard Inc. lifted its position in Progressive by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 15,394 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,357,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,194 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Lineweaver Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Lineweaver Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,645 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,447,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in Progressive by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 62,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,668,000 after acquiring an additional 3,501 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 1.7%

PGR opened at $246.33 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $144.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.37. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $208.13 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $269.17 and a 200 day moving average of $265.63.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 33.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total transaction of $329,901.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,191,955.98. The trade was a 4.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,490 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.67, for a total transaction of $691,398.30. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,451,160.43. This represents a 16.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,705 shares of company stock valued at $11,450,948 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $268.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.35.

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.