Shah Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $795,000 in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Shah Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,641 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $795,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. MW Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth $502,000. Blalock Williams LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 22.4% during the second quarter. Blalock Williams LLC now owns 5,327 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Hingham Institution for Savings boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 292.3% in the second quarter. Hingham Institution for Savings now owns 25,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,570,000 after buying an additional 19,000 shares during the period. Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 3.4% in the second quarter. Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,891 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $850,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Finally, Syon Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.4% in the second quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 15,082 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,295,000 after buying an additional 1,782 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Susan Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.50, for a total transaction of $8,195,691.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 485,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,553,641. This represents a 7.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $1,797,824.92. Following the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,880,743.08. The trade was a 20.72% 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 have sold 113,714 shares of company stock valued at $24,466,294 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $218.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $126.98 billion, a PE ratio of 10.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $217.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $207.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $249.71.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $226.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $228.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Evercore set a $240.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Progressive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.26.

About Progressive

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.