Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $42.14 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 36.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 175,853 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 46,915 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $42,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America raised 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 target price on Progressive and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $288.59.

Progressive Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of PGR traded up $7.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $284.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,075,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,656,610. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $201.34 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The stock has a market cap of $166.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company's 50 day moving average is $275.72 and its 200 day moving average is $263.53.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.81, for a total transaction of $351,985.27. Following the sale, the insider now owns 28,888 shares in the company, valued at $8,025,375.28. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.37, for a total value of $2,753,700.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 238,024 shares in the company, valued at $65,544,668.88. The trade was a 4.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 43,651 shares of company stock valued at $12,017,780. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Progressive Company 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.