Smith Salley Wealth Management Acquires New Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Smith Salley Wealth Management bought a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $683,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sachetta LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Northwest Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 143.6% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the first quarter worth about $35,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 10th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Progressive from $279.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Progressive from $230.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $216.81.

Progressive Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Progressive stock traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $209.43. 2,372,215 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,573,121. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $111.41 and a 1 year high of $217.77. The firm has a market cap of $122.66 billion, a PE ratio of 21.75, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $209.43 and its 200 day moving average is $196.15.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The business had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total transaction of $135,271.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total transaction of $2,546,584.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 312,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,978,003.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total transaction of $135,271.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 34,518 shares of company stock worth $7,159,674. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Company Profile

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.