The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Position Raised by Mizuho Securities USA LLC

Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 46.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 55,522 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,545 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $13,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its stake in Progressive by 116.3% in the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 64,908 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,553,000 after buying an additional 34,897 shares during the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP lifted its stake in Progressive by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Sciencast Management LP now owns 12,617 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,023,000 after buying an additional 1,543 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank lifted its stake in Progressive by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 1,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 10,794 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,586,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 2,169.7% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 14,322 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,432,000 after buying an additional 13,691 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PGR shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

Progressive Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $273.08 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $201.34 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $261.96 and its 200-day moving average is $254.99.

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 return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034 in the last three months. 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.