Howard Capital Management Inc. Acquires 993 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 30.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,267 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 993 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,139,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in Progressive by 66.9% in the first quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the first quarter worth $207,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,806.24. The trade was a 29.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $536,977.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 43,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,532,802.60. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 58,500 shares of company stock worth $14,430,089 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of PGR opened at $211.75 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $211.53 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $239.70 and a 200 day moving average of $255.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.62, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $268.90.

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.