Atlas Brown Inc. Purchases New Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Atlas Brown Inc. purchased a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 143.6% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $210.75 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $209.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.44 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $111.41 and a twelve month high of $217.77.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. Progressive’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 11.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 4.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $243.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. HSBC increased their price objective on Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $216.81.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total transaction of $135,271.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $828,485.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,468 shares of company stock valued at $4,415,753. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.