Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. Purchases New Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 31,202 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,970,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 279.2% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 811,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $129,237,000 after buying an additional 597,401 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its stake in Progressive by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 697,904 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $111,162,000 after acquiring an additional 42,639 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 2,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $477,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 19,459 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,099,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $343,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 1.0 %

Progressive stock traded down $2.12 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $209.68. The stock had a trading volume of 780,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,598,300. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $111.41 and a 52 week high of $216.21. The company has a market cap of $122.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $203.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.05.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 4.09%.

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.