Foster & Motley Inc. Has $923,000 Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Foster & Motley Inc. decreased its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 22.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,793 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,650 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 143.6% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.88.

Progressive Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $214.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $125.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $111.41 and a 12 month high of $216.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $201.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.58.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the completion of 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the sale, 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 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.