The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Holdings Raised by Portfolio Design Labs LLC

Portfolio Design Labs LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 128.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,002 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,254 shares during the quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $959,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Progressive by 1.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Progressive by 13.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,213 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Progressive by 1.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after acquiring an additional 170,618 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Progressive by 7.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Progressive by 21.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after acquiring an additional 842,109 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $257.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $151.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $244.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $246.28. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $180.72 and a 52 week high of $270.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.71.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. The trade was a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,645,222.40. The trade was a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.