Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Acquires 3,307 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 638.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,307 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Progressive were worth $971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 21.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after purchasing an additional 842,109 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 29,701.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 596,331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $151,325,000 after purchasing an additional 594,330 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 206.8% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 875,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $222,207,000 after purchasing an additional 590,235 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its stake in Progressive by 457.2% in the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 651,707 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $135,366,000 after purchasing an additional 534,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Progressive by 135.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 873,636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $181,463,000 after purchasing an additional 503,307 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.81.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total transaction of $10,937,914.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at $119,475,967. This represents a 8.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $748,678.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,618,555.95. This trade represents a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,209 shares of company stock worth $14,975,979 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:PGR opened at $266.86 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $253.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $232.72. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $149.14 and a 52 week high of $270.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $156.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.36.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.