Western Financial Corp CA Increases Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Western Financial Corp CA increased its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 14.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,139 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA’s holdings in Progressive were worth $752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its position in Progressive by 114.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Progressive during the third quarter worth $49,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Progressive during the third quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 21.3% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 262 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $246.78 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $247.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $244.51. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $176.37 and a 1-year high of $270.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.41.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the firm’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 $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.71.

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.