Roundview Capital LLC Grows Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Roundview Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 60,775 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 669 shares during the period. Progressive accounts for 1.0% of Roundview Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Roundview Capital LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $14,562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,363,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,431,389 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $342,975,000 after buying an additional 32,034 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lifted its holdings in Progressive by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 39,928 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,567,000 after buying an additional 4,717 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 4,672 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,119,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 67,919 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $16,274,000 after acquiring an additional 5,229 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,199,142.56. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,255 shares of company stock valued at $17,250,271 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

Progressive Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $283.44 on Tuesday. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $266.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $256.15. The company has a market cap of $166.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.68, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

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.