Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Sells 2,217 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lowered its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 53,447 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,217 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Progressive were worth $12,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 90.9% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after acquiring an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on PGR. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Roth Mkm upped their target price 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $272.49 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $264.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $255.49. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.74 billion, a PE ratio of 18.92, 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 data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,759,663.84. The trade was a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total transaction of $110,016.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,255 shares of company stock worth $16,877,471 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Company 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.