The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Acquired by Ossiam

Ossiam increased its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 24.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,730 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,832 shares during the quarter. Ossiam’s holdings in Progressive were worth $4,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,795,262,000 after purchasing an additional 583,376 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,498,363,000 after buying an additional 189,638 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,843,045,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Progressive by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,451,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,521,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,323,018,000 after acquiring an additional 153,044 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays raised their price target on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.76.

Progressive Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $265.45 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $273.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $257.86. The stock has a market cap of $155.62 billion, a PE ratio of 18.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. 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 Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $201.34 and a 12-month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $142,324.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,024.07. This trade represents a 12.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.