Diversify Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 429.5% in the first quarter, owning 9,018 shares worth about $1.81 million after buying 7,315 additional shares.
• Analysts are largely cautious on Progressive: the stock currently carries a Hold consensus rating, with a $236.74 average price target. Recent target updates from major firms ranged from $208 to $250.
• Progressive reported Q1 EPS of $4.80, beating expectations, while revenue rose 6.5% year over year to $22.19 billion. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, and insiders have sold shares in recent months.

Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 429.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,018 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,315 shares during the quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $1,810,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 235.1% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 700.0% in the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 144 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Progressive from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $210.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $236.74.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $225.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $131.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.48, a PEG ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.26. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $254.93. The company's 50-day moving average price is $208.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.37 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.03%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.76, for a total value of $236,907.32. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,511 shares in the company, valued at $5,633,152.36. This represents a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,183,200.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,258,000. The trade was a 12.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 15,230 shares of company stock valued at $3,165,817 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company's stock.

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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