Goldstein Advisors LLC Acquires 56 Shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Goldstein Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 5.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Goldstein Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 114.0% in the first quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 92 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in Progressive in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America raised Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.81, for a total transaction of $351,985.27. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,025,375.28. This trade represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,490 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.67, for a total value of $691,398.30. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,429 shares in the company, valued at $3,451,160.43. This trade represents a 16.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,705 shares of company stock worth $11,572,448. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $259.67 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $152.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.51, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $204.88 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The business’s 50 day moving average is $274.56 and its 200 day moving average is $264.55.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.50% and a net margin of 11.10%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.