Brighton Jones LLC Raises Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 16.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,965 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 573 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,122,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PGR. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Progressive by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,199 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,881,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,141,000. Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,205,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Progressive by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,667,903 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $878,866,000 after acquiring an additional 111,659 shares during the period. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH grew its stake in Progressive by 498.5% in the 1st quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 5,057 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,431,000 after acquiring an additional 4,212 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.81, for a total value of $351,985.27. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 28,888 shares in the company, valued at $8,025,375.28. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares in the company, valued at $180,891.35. This represents a 35.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 34,517 shares of company stock worth $9,451,821. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $266.46 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $276.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $264.50. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $204.62 and a twelve month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.59.

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.