EULAV Asset Management Acquires Shares of 25,300 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

EULAV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 25,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,062,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 114.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its position in Progressive by 1,650.0% during the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. 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. StockNews.com cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their price objective 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, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $250.64 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $245.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $146.83 billion, a PE ratio of 17.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $180.72 and a 1 year high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.78%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % 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, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,500,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,935,250. This represents a 26.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.