Welch & Forbes LLC Has $10 Million Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Welch & Forbes LLC lessened its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 3.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 37,483 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,509 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $10,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 5,728 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,621,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the period. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,056,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $325,624.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,356,934.80. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total transaction of $1,555,052.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,806.24. The trade was a 29.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 58,500 shares of company stock valued at $14,430,089 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Progressive from $350.00 to $351.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on Progressive from $305.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Progressive from $301.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Progressive from $271.00 to $257.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $268.90.

Progressive Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of PGR stock opened at $205.97 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $237.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $254.01. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $205.55 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The company has a market capitalization of $120.74 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The company had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.58 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. 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 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.