The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Bought by Bleakley Financial Group LLC

Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 114.1% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its position in Progressive by 1,650.0% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

Progressive Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $251.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $147.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $180.68 and a 1 year high of $270.62. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $245.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $245.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.4 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Company 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.