Atala Financial Inc Invests $32,000 in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 135 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,257 shares of company stock worth $15,752,781 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of PGR opened at $283.87 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $258.14 and its 200 day moving average is $254.03. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $287.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G 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.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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 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 is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.