Smith Moore & CO. Boosts Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Smith Moore & CO. grew its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 104.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 879 shares during the period. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Progressive by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Progressive by 30.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,882,000 after purchasing an additional 249,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Progressive in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,253,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PGR. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.29.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares in the company, valued at $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $257.27 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $269.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $256.74. The firm has a market cap of $150.82 billion, a PE ratio of 17.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Progressive 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.