The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Bought by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 762,274 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,257 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $182,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 98.2% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 90.9% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $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 raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 330,667 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Progressive by 2,262.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total transaction of $1,305,919.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. This represents a 23.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,257 shares of company stock worth $15,752,781. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 1.6 %

PGR stock opened at $283.87 on Friday. 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 $166.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $258.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $253.97. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $199.57 and a 52 week high of $287.49.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.76.

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.