Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 115 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 115 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Progressive by 2,262.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc grew its stake in Progressive by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 238,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $57,132,000 after acquiring an additional 68,589 shares during the period. Synergy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 100.3% in the fourth quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,541 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $875,000 after acquiring an additional 1,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp raised its position in shares of Progressive by 295.1% during the fourth quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,102 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total transaction of $2,799,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 269,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,462,306.04. This represents a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,227 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.00, for a total transaction of $344,787.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 28,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,978,433. This represents a 4.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.65.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $283.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $201.34 and a 52-week high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The company has a fifty day moving average of $275.17 and a 200-day moving average of $260.88.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

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.