Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC Has $8.08 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 576 shares during the period. Progressive comprises about 1.4% of Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $8,084,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PGR. State Street Corp grew its stake in Progressive by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,263,763,000 after purchasing an additional 315,411 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after buying an additional 1,682,213 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 1.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after buying an additional 170,618 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Progressive by 7.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Progressive by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,022,507,000 after acquiring an additional 92,212 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Down 0.7 %

PGR stock opened at $243.79 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $166.92 and a 1-year high of $270.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business’s 50 day moving average is $250.53 and its 200-day moving average is $242.03. The firm has a market cap of $142.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.41.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. Equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 13.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on PGR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 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 transaction of $2,194,878.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $748,678.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,618,555.95. This trade represents a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.