Cambridge Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Cambridge Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 30,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,248,000. Progressive accounts for approximately 3.0% of Cambridge Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. 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 MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total value of $110,016.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,370 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,084.80. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $435,861.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 268,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,759,663.84. This represents a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,255 shares of company stock worth $16,877,471. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $279.13 on Friday. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $265.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $255.82. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

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.