Groupama Asset Managment Invests $511,000 in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 2,013 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $511,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in Progressive during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 119.6% during the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 114.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Sachetta LLC raised its position in Progressive by 34.0% in the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 209 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 7,696 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.21, for a total value of $1,964,096.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $3,876,384.69. This represents a 33.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,839 shares of company stock valued at $6,718,965. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR stock opened at $247.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $145.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $254.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $235.83. 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 Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $149.14 and a 12-month high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The company had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. HSBC raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.81.

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.