Trust Co. of Vermont Buys Shares of 2,501 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $546,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PGR. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.8% during the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $609,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12.0% during the second quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Up 1.5%

PGR stock opened at $206.98 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $254.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.40 EPS. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Evercore set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Mizuho set a $236.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total value of $1,514,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 22,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. This represents a 23.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at $8,908,847.43. The trade was a 14.71% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Company Profile

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.