Webster Bank N. A. Invests $26,000 in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 109 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 20.9% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 237 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 16.5% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.7% during the third quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 1,712 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 4.6% during the third quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 1,024 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Kelleher Financial Advisors now owns 995 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 3.4 %

NYSE:PGR opened at $246.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.60 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $248.27 and a 200-day moving average of $243.79. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $175.50 and a 52 week high of $270.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on PGR. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Progressive from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.65.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,506 shares of company stock valued at $10,531,159. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.