O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Has $16.27 Million Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,919 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,229 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $16,274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 90.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Progressive by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,882,000 after buying an additional 249,958 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 22nd. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total transaction of $110,016.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,255 shares of company stock valued at $14,490,871 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $279.13 on Monday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $265.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $255.91. The company has a market cap of $163.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 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.