Park Avenue Securities LLC Grows Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 34.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,364 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,503 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $6,077,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in Progressive during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 114.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 1.0 %

PGR stock opened at $242.17 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $141.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41. 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 Progressive Co. has a one year low of $166.92 and a one year high of $270.62. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $251.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.00.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. As a group, analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, December 26th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Barclays decreased their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $748,678.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,618,555.95. This trade represents a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,919 shares of company stock valued at $8,222,168 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.