Capital Investment Counsel LLC Acquires 49 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Capital Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,571 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Progressive by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,022,507,000 after purchasing an additional 92,212 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 21.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after purchasing an additional 842,109 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,836,218 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $973,479,000 after buying an additional 39,675 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 3.0% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,392,773 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $497,003,000 after buying an additional 69,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Progressive by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,738,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $441,136,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Progressive from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.81.

Progressive Trading Up 1.0 %

PGR stock opened at $266.06 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $149.14 and a 12 month high of $266.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $253.06 and its 200 day moving average is $231.63. The company has a market capitalization of $155.86 billion, a PE ratio of 19.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.95 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 13.12 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total value of $10,937,914.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at $119,475,967. The trade was a 8.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total transaction of $549,970.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,462,038.44. The trade was a 13.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,209 shares of company stock worth $14,975,979. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.