Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Grows Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 163.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,220 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,867,000 after buying an additional 3,498 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 168.9% in the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,848 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $976,000 after acquiring an additional 2,417 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in Progressive by 11.0% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 14,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,421 shares during the last quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department boosted its holdings in Progressive by 40.2% in the third quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 1,363 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 391,273 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $99,290,000 after purchasing an additional 66,628 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $273.08 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $261.96 and a 200-day moving average of $254.99. The company has a market cap of $160.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, 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 quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $479,391.36. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 26,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,546,174.02. This trade represents a 5.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 represents a 3.41 % 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 worth $16,668,034 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company 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.