Advisory Alpha LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Advisory Alpha LLC grew its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 936 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 112 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew 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 during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.65.

Insider Activity

In related 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $2,194,878.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. This trade represents a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,506 shares of company stock worth $10,531,159. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $239.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $140.35 billion, a PE ratio of 17.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $243.14. 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 1 year low of $175.50 and a 1 year high of $270.62.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.10 dividend. 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 0.17%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

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.