Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. Buys New Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 31,202 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,970,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 279.2% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 811,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $129,237,000 after purchasing an additional 597,401 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its stake in Progressive by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 697,904 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $111,162,000 after buying an additional 42,639 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 2,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 19,459 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,099,000 after acquiring an additional 3,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $343,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Progressive from $279.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.88.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR traded down $2.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $209.68. 780,555 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,598,300. The firm has a market cap of $122.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $179.05. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $111.41 and a 52 week high of $216.21.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The transaction 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 Progressive stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139 in the last ninety days. 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.