Financial Counselors Inc. Buys 429 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Financial Counselors Inc. increased its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,467 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 429 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $10,655,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in Progressive by 90.9% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 7.0% during the third 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 valued at $1,286,036,000 after purchasing an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Progressive by 2,262.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $2,194,878.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,255 shares of company stock worth $16,877,471. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $272.49 on Thursday. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $201.34 and a 52-week high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $264.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $255.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.78%.

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.