Balanced Wealth Group LLC Takes $532,000 Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Balanced Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,339 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $532,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Trading Up 0.2 %

PGR traded up $0.44 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $215.90. The company had a trading volume of 1,713,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,599,587. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.74. The stock has a market cap of $126.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.34. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $111.41 and a 52 week high of $217.77.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued 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 was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the firm’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 value of $5,645,965.50. Following the sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. HSBC boosted their price target on Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. UBS Group upped their price target on Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.88.

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.