Vicus Capital Takes $333,000 Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Vicus Capital bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,391 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $333,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PGR. State Street Corp boosted its position in Progressive by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,263,763,000 after acquiring an additional 315,411 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after purchasing an additional 170,618 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,286,036,000 after purchasing an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after purchasing an additional 842,109 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.71.

Progressive Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of PGR opened at $262.71 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $244.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $246.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $186.94 and a 52-week high of $270.62. The company has a market cap of $153.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.24, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $2,681,299.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. This represents a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,645,222.40. This represents a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.