The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Purchased by Scharf Investments LLC

Scharf Investments LLC raised its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,475 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Scharf Investments LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $833,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Progressive by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,263,763,000 after acquiring an additional 315,411 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 1.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after buying an additional 170,618 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position 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 during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 21.6% during the 3rd 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the company’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 $2,194,878.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were 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 owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on PGR. Bank of America raised their price objective on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays cut their price objective on Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.71.

Progressive Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $246.78 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $247.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $244.30. The stock has a market cap of $144.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.41. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $176.37 and a twelve month 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 (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 34.32%. Equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid 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 currently 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.