CENTRAL TRUST Co Boosts Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,117 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 1,122.3% during the 4th quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,802 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,380,000 after purchasing an additional 28,282 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust raised its position in Progressive by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 12,138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,908,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in Progressive by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 11,756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,817,000 after purchasing an additional 3,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,645,222.40. This represents a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen upped 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

Progressive Trading Down 1.0 %

PGR opened at $246.78 on Monday. 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 Progressive Co. has a one year low of $176.37 and a one year high of $270.62. The company has a market cap of $144.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.14, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $247.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $244.75.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Progressive 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.