LGL Partners LLC Raises Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

LGL Partners LLC grew its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,272 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 81 shares during the quarter. LGL Partners LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $305,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Progressive by 98.2% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 90.9% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after purchasing an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted 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 worth $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $278.62 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $247.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $250.14. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $163.22 billion, a PE ratio of 19.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $186.94 and a 52-week high of $279.93.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given 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 yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.59.

About Progressive

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.