The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Purchased by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 832 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Progressive by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,022,956 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,289,037,000 after acquiring an additional 622,590 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in Progressive by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,362,039,000 after acquiring an additional 3,174,632 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Progressive by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,338,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,828 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in Progressive by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,380,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,805,642,000 after acquiring an additional 396,567 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,473,180,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PGR. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Progressive from $312.00 to $301.38 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on Progressive from $305.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Progressive from $266.00 to $246.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Progressive from $271.00 to $257.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $268.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 43,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,532,802.60. This trade represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total value of $7,543,953.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 476,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,194,933.16. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 58,500 shares of company stock valued at $14,430,089 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $211.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $124.13 billion, a PE ratio of 11.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $239.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $255.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $211.53 and a 12 month high of $292.99.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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