Winmill & CO. Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Winmill & CO. Inc. lifted its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 15.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,670 shares during the period. Progressive makes up 3.9% of Winmill & CO. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Winmill & CO. Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $14,574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after buying an additional 1,622 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE PGR opened at $202.86 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $118.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $269.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $199.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.93.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 2.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $231,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 28,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,733,600. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355 over the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PGR. Barclays set a $247.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.11.

About Progressive

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.