1,320 Shares in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Acquired by Bradyco Inc.

Bradyco Inc. purchased a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,320 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $316,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after acquiring an additional 842,109 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Progressive by 75.3% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $379,139,000 after purchasing an additional 641,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position 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 worth $136,145,000 after acquiring an additional 566,656 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on PGR. 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 note on Thursday, December 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. HSBC cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.59.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $281.00 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $253.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $252.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $193.85 and a one year high of $287.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 the firm’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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 three months, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $14,102,075. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.