Welch & Forbes LLC Has $10 Million Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,483 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,509 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $10,003,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Progressive by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in Progressive by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $615,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 5,728 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares during the period. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 20.2% during the first quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Progressive from $276.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $312.00 to $301.38 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $301.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $268.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $325,624.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 30,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,356,934.80. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total transaction of $7,543,953.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 476,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $117,194,933.16. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 58,500 shares of company stock valued at $14,430,089. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE PGR opened at $205.97 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $254.01. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $205.55 and a one year high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $120.74 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.The business had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.19%.

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.