The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Position Increased by Versor Investments LP

Versor Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 95.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,870 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,865 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.59.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $273.13 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $160.00 billion, a PE ratio of 18.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $248.63 and a 200-day moving average of $250.30. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $186.94 and a one year high of $280.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

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.