The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Position Lifted by IRON Financial LLC

IRON Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,423 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. IRON Financial LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after buying an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,205,266,000 after acquiring an additional 842,109 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in Progressive by 75.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $379,139,000 after acquiring an additional 641,943 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 29,701.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 596,331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $151,325,000 after purchasing an additional 594,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 206.8% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 875,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $222,207,000 after purchasing an additional 590,235 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Progressive from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,506 shares of company stock valued at $10,531,159 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $246.83 on Tuesday. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $175.50 and a fifty-two week high of $270.62. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $248.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $243.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $144.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.41.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.91%.

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.