Certuity LLC Has $403,000 Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Certuity LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 32.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,683 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 413 shares during the period. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 70,443 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $17,876,000 after purchasing an additional 9,114 shares in the last quarter. HTLF Bank bought a new position in Progressive in the third quarter worth approximately $200,000. Stillwater Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the third quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.8% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,855 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Terra Nova Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the third quarter worth approximately $1,977,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. HSBC cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.71.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,645,222.40. This represents a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $256.66 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.35 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. 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 Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $180.72 and a 52-week high of $270.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $244.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $246.57.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.