Bragg Financial Advisors Inc Lowers Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Bragg Financial Advisors Inc trimmed its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,689 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,847 shares during the quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Progressive were worth $11,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $317.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Progressive from $300.00 to $288.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.71.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $275.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $271.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $257.20.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $234,044.98. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,463,329.23. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.