Valley National Advisers Inc. Increases Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 75.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 564 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $150,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $246,000. Autumn Glory Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth $267,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Progressive during the second quarter worth $40,000. Petros Family Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 16.7% during the second quarter. Petros Family Wealth LLC now owns 2,198 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the second quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 18,957 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,059,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 target price on Progressive in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $325,624.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,356,934.80. This trade represents a 4.24% 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 Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total value of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. This trade represents a 17.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $240.50 on Tuesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $228.54 and a 52-week high of $292.99. The stock has a market cap of $140.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.55, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $245.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $260.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The firm had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.25%.

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.