Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 2,951.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,996 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 75,440 shares during the period. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $20,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 7.4% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 521 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 13.4% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 338 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 4.0% in the first quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 1,055 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 20.8% in the second quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 256 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on PGR. Wall Street Zen cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Progressive from $301.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $246.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $266.52.

Progressive Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of PGR stock opened at $229.54 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $227.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $247.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $199.90 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $134.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.59, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). The company had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.During the same period last year, the company posted $3.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.29, for a total transaction of $307,050.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,698 shares in the company, valued at $6,323,176.42. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,806.24. This represents a 29.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 43,332 shares of company stock valued at $10,564,558. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.