Venturi Wealth Management LLC Has $15.13 Million Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 63,128 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,989 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $15,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James raised Progressive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $276.12.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR traded down $1.68 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $265.99. 2,567,348 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,505,890. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.47, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.42. The company's 50-day moving average price is $246.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $248.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $186.94 and a 1-year high of $270.79.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive's payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

About Progressive

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.