McHugh Group LLC Buys Shares of 7,200 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

McHugh Group LLC acquired a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,200 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,725,000. Progressive accounts for 1.3% of McHugh Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Progressive by 6.9% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 119,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,275,000 after buying an additional 7,696 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 5.1% in the third quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Progressive during the third quarter worth $205,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 188.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 3,918 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $994,000 after acquiring an additional 2,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,815 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,222,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $248.99 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $145.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.29, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $179.90 and a 52-week high of $270.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $245.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $245.32. 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 released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.4 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 paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $2,681,299.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. This represents a 2.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

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.