Global Frontier Investments LLC Invests $43.61 Million in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Global Frontier Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 182,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $43,609,000. Progressive makes up about 11.2% of Global Frontier Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $479,391.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 26,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,546,174.02. The trade was a 5.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 43,749 shares of company stock worth $11,786,613 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $265.11 on Monday. 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 Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $274.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $258.36. The stock has a market cap of $155.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.41, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $320.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.76.

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.