Wedmont Private Capital Has $1.88 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,983 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,881,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Progressive by 98.2% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after buying an additional 3,720 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 84.3% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 25,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,531,000 after buying an additional 11,770 shares during the last quarter. Sycomore Asset Management lifted its holdings in Progressive by 9.5% in the second quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 28,128 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,856,000 after buying an additional 2,450 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 7.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $235.84 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $166.92 and a twelve month high of $270.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $251.23 and a 200-day moving average of $241.78.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $748,678.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,618,555.95. The trade was a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.