SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. Buys New Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,771 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,331,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sycomore Asset Management grew its stake in Progressive by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 51,770 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,066,000 after acquiring an additional 15,512 shares in the last quarter. Vivid Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $2,143,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Progressive by 3.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Allstate Corp purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $4,205,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Progressive by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,667,903 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $878,866,000 after acquiring an additional 111,659 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, 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 transaction of $99,421.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.81, for a total transaction of $351,985.27. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 28,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,025,375.28. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,755 shares of company stock worth $10,367,074 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of PGR opened at $279.19 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $201.34 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $276.19 and a 200 day moving average of $264.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. On average, research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.59.

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.