Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. Makes New $89,000 Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 370 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $89,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 114.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% in the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $2,194,878.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. This trade represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.4 %

Progressive stock opened at $249.61 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $146.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $245.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $246.02. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $180.72 and a 12 month high of $270.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Equities analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.71.

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.