Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 3,915 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $893,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 78.9% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after acquiring an additional 6,045,732 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 26.1% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314,864 shares in the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $353,906,000. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $185,761,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,258,000. This trade represents a 12.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 7,343 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,355 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE PGR opened at $204.12 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.28. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $269.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $198.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.37 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Argus upgraded shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.11.

Progressive Company Profile

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.