Hardy Reed LLC Makes New $1.86 Million Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Hardy Reed LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 8,530 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,863,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $609,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 22,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. The trade was a 23.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $769,780.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 42,595 shares in the company, valued at $9,370,900. The trade was a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 74,885 shares of company stock valued at $15,880,459 over the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $209.48 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $189.20 and a fifty-two week high of $254.93. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $121.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.40 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $205.00 to $198.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.00.

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.