6,156 Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR Bought by Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management inc.

Key Points

• Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management purchased 6,156 Progressive shares worth approximately $1.22 million in the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 85.34% of the insurer.
• Progressive reported quarterly EPS of $5.67, beating estimates by $1.03, while revenue rose 5% year over year to $23.61 billion. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed but leans toward “Hold,” with a consensus price target of $236.26; Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded the stock to “Outperform” and raised its target to $250.

Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,156 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,220,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 235.1% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,242 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $476,895.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 26,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,583,637.50. The trade was a 7.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203 in the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Progressive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Evercore set a $240.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, August 3rd. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Progressive from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $236.26.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $217.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $126.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $189.20 and a twelve month high of $249.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $216.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $207.15.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is 2.01%.

Progressive Company Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.

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