Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 6,754 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 355.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,654 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,754 shares during the quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,196,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Davis Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 119.6% in the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 114.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 126.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 165 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total value of $10,937,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,475,967. The trade was a 8.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 6,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.19, for a total transaction of $1,439,833.18. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,600,400.04. This trade represents a 15.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,331 shares of company stock valued at $16,415,812 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.56.

Progressive Trading Up 2.5 %

PGR stock opened at $264.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $149.14 and a twelve month high of $264.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $251.92 and a 200-day moving average of $229.29. The company has a market cap of $154.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.36.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 13.11 EPS for the current 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.