Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Buys 288 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 384.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 363 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $87,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in Progressive by 1,650.0% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. HSBC cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.88.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $263.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $245.26 and a 200 day moving average of $247.88. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $154.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $186.94 and a 12-month high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.