Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Makes New $5.70 Million Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 23,785 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,699,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after acquiring an additional 2,085,833 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 75.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $379,139,000 after buying an additional 641,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,795,262,000 after buying an additional 583,376 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Down 0.7 %

PGR opened at $272.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $264.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $255.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was 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 approximately $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the firm’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 value of $46,241.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,255 shares of company stock worth $16,877,471. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several 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 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.06.

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.