TD Asset Management Inc. Purchases 79,514 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

TD Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,814,536 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 79,514 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.31% of Progressive worth $434,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 1,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp raised its position in Progressive by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $384,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Monument Capital Management lifted its stake in Progressive by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 13,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,298,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. HSBC cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $274.07 on Tuesday. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $201.34 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The company has a market cap of $160.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $262.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $255.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (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%. Research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 65,855 shares of company stock valued at $16,767,455. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.