World Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 1,645 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 99.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,645 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 55.0% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,583 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.2% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,044,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,566,000. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,753 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $952,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in Progressive by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 10,451 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,652,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.6 %

PGR stock opened at $250.25 on Tuesday. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $154.38 and a one year high of $270.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $254.00 and its 200 day moving average is $237.32. The firm has a market cap of $146.60 billion, a PE ratio of 18.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $748,678.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at $6,618,555.95. This trade represents a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,462,038.44. This trade represents a 13.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,839 shares of company stock valued at $6,718,965 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PGR shares. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Progressive from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.81.

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.