WBI Investments LLC Buys New Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

WBI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 5,548 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,570,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,362 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,310,000 after acquiring an additional 3,191 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 4,651 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Integrity Alliance LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at $4,569,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,441 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,106,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.96, for a total value of $1,557,750.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 21,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,402,135.52. This represents a 22.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total transaction of $556,230.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 45,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,466,664.72. This trade represents a 4.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,010 shares of company stock valued at $34,547,699 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $246.17 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $246.91 and a 200-day moving average of $265.12. The company has a market cap of $144.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $228.54 and a one year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Progressive from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $330.00 to $327.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.82.

About Progressive

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.