Shepherd Financial Partners LLC Acquires 916 Shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Shepherd Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 4.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,235 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 916 shares during the quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $6,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Progressive by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $269,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Progressive by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,199 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,881,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Progressive by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 8,356 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 2,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $659,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.37, for a total transaction of $2,753,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 238,024 shares in the company, valued at $65,544,668.88. The trade was a 4.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares in the company, valued at approximately $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,517 shares of company stock valued at $9,451,821. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on PGR shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.59.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $265.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $276.09 and a 200-day moving average of $264.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $204.88 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 33.50%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive 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.