Procyon Advisors LLC Purchases 803 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Procyon Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 14.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,388 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 803 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 10.2% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 670 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Progressive by 1.2% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 5,860 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 1.3% in the third quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $756,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Steward Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 20.3% in the third quarter. Steward Financial Group LLC now owns 421 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Chesley Taft & Associates LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 0.4% in the third quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 18,960 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,641,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 13,110 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.26, for a total value of $2,127,228.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 465,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,570,485.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 13,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.26, for a total value of $2,127,228.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 465,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,570,485.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 58,949 shares of company stock valued at $10,671,740. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE PGR traded up $1.45 on Thursday, reaching $207.60. 216,119 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,457,925. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $188.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $111.41 and a fifty-two week high of $208.19.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $16.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.10 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 21.25% and a net margin of 6.28%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 9.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th 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 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. TD Cowen started coverage on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $227.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Progressive from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Progressive from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $184.50.

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.