Ritholtz Wealth Management Acquires 703 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,829 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,356,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 59.4% during the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,181 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at $226,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 765.5% during the second quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 2,657 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,350 shares during the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.6% during the second quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,027 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,875,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 9.4% during the second quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 14,869 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,968,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PGR. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $270.00 to $262.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $350.00 to $351.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $276.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total transaction of $1,555,052.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,806.24. This trade represents a 29.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total transaction of $7,543,953.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 476,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $117,194,933.16. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 128,778 shares of company stock valued at $31,683,756. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE:PGR opened at $221.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $244.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $258.46. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $217.20 and a 12 month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). The company had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.58 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.25%.

Progressive Company 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.