Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. Makes New $6.07 Million Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. bought a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 25,334 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,070,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 7,608 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,824,000 after buying an additional 1,663 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Progressive by 63.8% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 35,093 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,409,000 after acquiring an additional 13,670 shares during the period. Landing Point Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $453,000. Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $10,365,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in Progressive by 46.7% during the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 69,859 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $16,739,000 after purchasing an additional 22,228 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,024.07. This trade represents a 12.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PGR. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Barclays increased their price target on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group upped their target price 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 downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.76.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $257.66 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $257.92. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a market cap of $151.05 billion, a PE ratio of 17.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

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.