Premier Fund Managers Ltd Invests $4.19 Million in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Premier Fund Managers Ltd bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 17,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,194,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 16.5% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 1,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monument Capital Management raised its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 13,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,298,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total transaction of $110,016.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,084.80. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,255 shares of company stock valued at $16,877,471 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $274.73 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $264.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $255.62. 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 cap of $161.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $201.34 and a 12-month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.