Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Makes New $201,000 Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 839 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cooper Financial Group lifted its holdings in Progressive by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 4,546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,089,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of Progressive by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 7,983 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,881,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,552 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in Progressive by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,210 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $145,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $748,678.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,618,555.95. The trade was a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Up 1.3 %

PGR stock opened at $245.57 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $166.92 and a one year high of $270.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $250.72 and a 200-day moving average of $242.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.41.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. The company 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, analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 13.52 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.24.

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.