Park Place Capital Corp Buys 1,572 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Park Place Capital Corp raised its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 79.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,562 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,572 shares during the quarter. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Progressive were worth $740,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sachetta LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 143.6% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO acquired a new position in Progressive during the first quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Progressive during the first quarter worth $35,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Trading Up 0.8 %

Progressive stock traded up $1.66 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $216.94. The company had a trading volume of 1,769,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,572,837. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $211.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $203.11. The firm has a market cap of $127.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $124.06 and a 12-month high of $229.00.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.18%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total transaction of $1,525,567.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,503 shares in the company, valued at $7,357,996.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 22,708 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total transaction of $4,859,739.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 302,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,836,041.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total value of $1,525,567.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,503 shares in the company, valued at $7,357,996.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 108,168 shares of company stock worth $22,937,984. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $245.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $276.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.94.

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.