Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 4,559 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,559 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $726,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 143.6% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup raised their target price on Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock traded down $2.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $208.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,628,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,796,081. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $111.41 and a 1 year high of $216.21. 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 company has a market capitalization of $121.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s fifty day moving average is $202.45 and its 200-day moving average is $177.76.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

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.