The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Purchased by PDS Planning Inc

PDS Planning Inc raised its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,489 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Progressive were worth $396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,002,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,449 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,916,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 655,706 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,982,841 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $833,410,000 after purchasing an additional 162,916 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,641,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $785,814,000 after purchasing an additional 156,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $666,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,591 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $211.88.

Progressive Stock Up 0.4 %

PGR traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $213.75. 979,079 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,598,303. The company has a market cap of $125.19 billion, a PE ratio of 21.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $200.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $111.41 and a one year high of $216.21.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 11.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 4.09%.

About Progressive

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.