The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Bought by West Family Investments Inc.

West Family Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 90.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,284 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,557 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Progressive by 6,350.0% in the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 900.0% during the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the company’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 transaction 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 represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total transaction of $7,543,953.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,194,933.16. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 43,332 shares of company stock valued at $10,564,558 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $228.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $134.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.54, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.29. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $227.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $246.74. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $199.90 and a twelve month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted 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). Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.The business had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $276.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Progressive to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Hsbc Global Res raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Progressive in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $247.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $266.52.

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.