Smith Salley Wealth Management Grows Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Smith Salley Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,859,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 114.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth about $36,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Progressive during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Progressive during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, December 13th. Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $748,678.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,618,555.95. This represents a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,919 shares of company stock valued at $8,222,168 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $243.79 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $250.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $242.27. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $166.92 and a 12-month high of $270.62. The firm has a market cap of $142.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.91%.

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.