Alerus Financial NA Purchases Shares of 17,238 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Alerus Financial NA acquired a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 17,238 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,130,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $274.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $264.61 and its 200-day moving average is $255.62. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total value of $110,016.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,255 shares of company stock worth $16,877,471. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PGR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 22nd. HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.06.

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.