Raymond James & Associates Has $226.09 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,093,153 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 50,640 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.19% of Progressive worth $226,086,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Balentine LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 22,162 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,530,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC now owns 7,443 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,186,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 670 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in shares of Progressive by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 3,438 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Winslow Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Winslow Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,579 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other 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 transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded down $2.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $208.03. The stock had a trading volume of 2,628,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,796,081. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $111.41 and a 52 week high of $216.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $202.45 and its 200 day moving average is $177.51. The stock has a market cap of $121.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 price objective for the company. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $279.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.88.

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.