Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management inc. Acquires New Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management inc. acquired a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,156 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,220,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Progressive in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 235.1% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $217.51 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $216.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.15. 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 stock has a market cap of $126.45 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $249.83.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.01%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,242 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $476,895.82. Following the transaction, the executive owned 26,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,583,637.50. The trade was a 7.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at $8,908,847.43. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PGR. UBS Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $225.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. HSBC increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Mizuho set a $236.00 price target on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.26.

Progressive Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.