Sheets Smith Wealth Management Acquires Shares of 18,995 The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 18,995 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,376,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $12,795,262,000 after buying an additional 583,376 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,498,363,000 after buying an additional 189,638 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,843,045,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,480,677,000 after acquiring an additional 710,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547,677 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,490 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.67, for a total value of $691,398.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,451,160.43. The trade was a 16.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 248,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $66,616,766.16. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,705 shares of company stock valued at $11,572,448 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $266.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $156.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $204.88 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $275.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $264.57.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 33.50%. On average, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Bank of America upgraded Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 target price on Progressive and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $288.88.

Progressive Profile

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.

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