Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,688 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Down 1.9 %

PGR opened at $273.13 on Thursday. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $186.94 and a 52 week high of $280.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $248.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $250.30. 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 company has a market cap of $160.00 billion, a PE ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. The trade was a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America boosted their price objective 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. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.