The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

National Pension Service increased its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,266,172 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 176,614 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Progressive were worth $297,783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Progressive by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 90.9% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,286,036,000 after buying an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Progressive by 2,262.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after buying an additional 415,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $278.62 on Wednesday. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $186.94 and a 52-week high of $279.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $247.97 and a 200-day moving average of $250.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $163.22 billion, a PE ratio of 19.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. HSBC cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were 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 approximately $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.