Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC Buys 949 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 95.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,941 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 949 shares during the quarter. Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PGR. Davis Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 114.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at $49,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,506 shares of company stock worth $10,531,159. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a 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 $274.65.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $238.58 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $248.62 and a 200-day moving average of $243.11. 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 $175.50 and a 12 month high of $270.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.41.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.17%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.91%.

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.