Naviter Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Naviter Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,239 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,255,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 11.3% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,525 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,402,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc grew its stake in Progressive by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 169,661 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,045,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth about $214,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $915,000. Finally, Rovin Capital UT ADV boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 1,560 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.5 %

PGR stock opened at $279.77 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $194.49 and a 12 month high of $287.49. 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 company has a market cap of $164.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $254.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $252.70.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, HSBC downgraded 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $14,102,075 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.