Canton Hathaway LLC Grows Holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Canton Hathaway LLC grew its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 2,419.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,686 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Canton Hathaway LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $1,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $269,000. Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 11,040 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,645,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 17,741 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $4,251,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,175 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $761,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR traded up $0.93 on Friday, reaching $261.26. 8,877,642 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,711,173. The stock has a market cap of $153.15 billion, a PE ratio of 17.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $204.88 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $275.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $264.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 33.50%. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of Progressive 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,025,375.28. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.37, for a total transaction of $2,753,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 238,024 shares in the company, valued at $65,544,668.88. This trade represents a 4.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 34,157 shares of company stock worth $9,352,400. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $288.88.

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.