Mach 1 Financial Group LLC Makes New Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Mach 1 Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,766 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $759,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted 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 valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR traded up $1.58 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $208.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,578,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,623,667. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $111.41 and a 12 month high of $216.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $203.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.82.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $279.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.88.

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.