First Horizon Advisors Inc. Purchases 131 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $551,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% in the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,539,110.22. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of Progressive 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $272.91 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $247.35 and a 200-day moving average of $249.74. The company has a market cap of $159.87 billion, a PE ratio of 18.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $186.94 and a one year high of $275.52.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PGR. Barclays increased their price objective on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.12.

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.