Diversify Advisory Services LLC Purchases New Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 10,192 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,199,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its position in Progressive by 235.1% in the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE:PGR opened at $206.98 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $254.93. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $214.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The business had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $476,895.82. Following the completion of the sale, the executive directly owned 26,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,583,637.50. The trade was a 7.87% decrease in their position. 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 a total of 82,224 shares of company stock worth $17,416,438 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Progressive from $231.00 to $226.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley raised Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Progressive from $205.00 to $198.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.16.

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.