The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Bought by Archer Investment Corp

Archer Investment Corp grew its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 295.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,102 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,570 shares during the quarter. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in Progressive were worth $504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Progressive by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 90.9% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 7.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,286,036,000 after buying an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Progressive by 2,262.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,990,000 after buying an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Progressive by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,882,000 after acquiring an additional 249,958 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE PGR opened at $251.33 on Friday. 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 Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $180.68 and a 52 week high of $270.62. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $245.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $245.32. The firm has a market cap of $147.23 billion, a PE ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its 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 net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

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.