Huntington National Bank Purchases 752 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,026 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Progressive were worth $6,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,990,000 after buying an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Progressive by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,882,000 after acquiring an additional 249,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Progressive during the third quarter worth approximately $35,253,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $2,194,878.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. The trade was a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,255 shares of company stock valued at $17,250,271 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $281.38 on Thursday. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $267.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $256.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.06.

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.