Stonebrook Private Inc. Purchases 80 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Stonebrook Private Inc. raised its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,148 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Stonebrook Private Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $285.93 on Monday. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $275.35 and a 200-day moving average of $261.81. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $167.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. 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 fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total value of $2,799,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 269,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,462,306.04. This trade represents a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction 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 approximately $180,891.35. This represents a 35.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.65.

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.