Valley National Advisers Inc. Buys 112 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 143.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $30,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 109.1% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 207 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the first quarter worth about $31,000. DecisionPoint Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth about $35,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $265.00 to $264.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $227.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.00.

Progressive Trading Up 0.6 %

PGR stock opened at $206.14 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $120.74 billion, a PE ratio of 31.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $111.41 and a 52 week high of $212.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $196.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.04.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $16.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.10 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 6.28% and a return on equity of 21.25%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 9.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.08%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the sale, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 44,629 shares of company stock valued at $8,348,176. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive 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.