Wambolt & Associates LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Wambolt & Associates LLC lifted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 11.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,901 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for about 1.2% of Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $4,005,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aviance Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,628,000. TCW Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,988,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $3,090,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 66.4% during the 1st quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,814 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after acquiring an additional 2,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in shares of Progressive by 90.4% in the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 21,056 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,354,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $367.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $230.00 to $262.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total value of $135,271.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares in the company, valued at $828,485.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total value of $135,271.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total value of $9,281,827.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 517,105 shares in the company, valued at $110,665,641.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 147,354 shares of company stock worth $33,502,680. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $249.61 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $214.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $134.34 and a 52-week high of $254.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.20 billion, a PE ratio of 25.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 12.19 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.