World Investment Advisors Purchases 3,419 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

World Investment Advisors grew its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 103.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,726 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,419 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Progressive were worth $1,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Westpac Banking Corp increased its position in Progressive by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 13,671 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,276,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,913 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,158,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC increased its position in Progressive by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 1,587 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 857 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. UBS Group upped their target price on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 268,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,759,663.84. This represents a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $257.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $150.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. 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 Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $201.34 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $269.14 and a 200-day moving average of $256.74.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.78%.

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.