Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $1.38 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,662 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 108 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PGR. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.88.

Progressive Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Progressive stock traded down $0.31 on Friday, hitting $208.72. The stock had a trading volume of 2,149,844 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,608,130. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $203.96 and a 200 day moving average of $179.25. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $111.41 and a twelve month high of $216.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.34.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

Progressive 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.