Aviance Capital Partners LLC Buys 5,575 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Aviance Capital Partners increased its stake in Progressive by 31.8% in the fourth quarter, buying 5,575 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 23,103 shares worth about $5.26 million.
• Progressive reported strong quarterly earnings, posting EPS of $4.80, which topped analyst estimates, while revenue rose 6.5% year over year to $22.19 billion.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but cautious: the stock carries a consensus “Hold” rating with a $238.39 price target, while several recent reports trimmed ratings or price objectives. Progressive also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share.

Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 31.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,103 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,575 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $5,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Progressive by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $12,584,067,000 after acquiring an additional 593,612 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Progressive by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after acquiring an additional 78,374 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Progressive by 78.9% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after acquiring an additional 6,045,732 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Progressive by 26.1% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314,864 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Progressive by 4.9% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,196,111 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,036,230,000 after acquiring an additional 197,603 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $150,201.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total value of $745,604.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,857,776. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564 over the last three months. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Progressive from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings lowered Progressive from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Argus upgraded Progressive to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Progressive from $227.00 to $210.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $238.39.

Progressive Trading Up 2.1%

PGR opened at $203.91 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $119.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $191.75 and a 12 month high of $289.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $200.89 and a 200 day moving average of $210.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.37 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.4 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive's payout ratio is 2.03%.

About Progressive

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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