Barclays PLC Has $291.93 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Barclays PLC decreased its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 25.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,218,333 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 407,198 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $291,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Progressive in the third quarter worth $55,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at about $2,566,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,044,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 55.0% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,583 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Progressive by 99.0% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $234,044.98. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,463,329.23. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares in the company, 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 sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $317.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.71.

Progressive Stock Up 1.2 %

Progressive stock opened at $278.85 on Tuesday. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.36, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $257.43.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 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.