The Progressive Corporation $PGR Stock Holdings Lifted by Wedmont Private Capital

Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 72.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,293 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,603 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,717 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. grew its stake in Progressive by 67.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 2,344 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $512,000 after acquiring an additional 940 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 34,666 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,573,000 after purchasing an additional 2,411 shares during the period. Nilsine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 5,735 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the period. Finally, Nvest Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 7.1% in the second quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 11,021 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,408,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $228.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. HSBC lifted their target price 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. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.26.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR stock opened at $218.41 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $126.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $249.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $217.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $207.81.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, Director Jeffrey Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,546 shares in the company, valued at $4,877,376.18. This trade represents a 23.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lori Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,908,847.43. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 113,714 shares of company stock valued at $24,466,294. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.