Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. Acquires 1,577 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 31,577 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,577 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $7,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PGR. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 13.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Progressive by 21.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,205,266,000 after acquiring an additional 842,109 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in Progressive by 75.3% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $379,139,000 after acquiring an additional 641,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Progressive by 36,819.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,195 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,145,000 after acquiring an additional 566,656 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,257 shares of company stock worth $15,752,781 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. StockNews.com lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.76.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $291.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $259.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $254.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $170.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $201.34 and a 12-month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

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.