J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Has $948,000 Stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 218.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,350 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,297 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Progressive were worth $948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PGR. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Group raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 3,659 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kesler Norman & Wride LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $885,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR traded down $6.69 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $243.41. 1,065,747 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,239,858. The company has a market cap of $142.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.37. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $208.13 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm's fifty day moving average is $264.25 and its 200 day moving average is $266.28.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%. Progressive's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, July 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stuart B. Burgdoerfer sold 3,681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $958,642.83. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,217 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,181,673.31. The trade was a 23.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total value of $1,041,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,750,829.82. This trade represents a 8.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,972 shares of company stock valued at $9,078,681 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $280.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Progressive from $337.00 to $336.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Progressive from $288.00 to $281.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $286.88.

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.