Davis R M Inc. Has $268,000 Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Davis R M Inc. increased its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $268,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 13.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Progressive by 21.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after purchasing an additional 842,109 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Progressive by 75.3% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $379,139,000 after purchasing an additional 641,943 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 36,819.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,195 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,145,000 after purchasing an additional 566,656 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $2,386,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 62,257 shares of company stock valued at $15,752,781. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR stock opened at $277.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $255.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.33. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $195.57 and a fifty-two week high of $287.49.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

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.