Tweedy Browne Co LLC Has $3.50 Million Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Tweedy Browne Co LLC trimmed its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 30.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,305 shares during the period. Tweedy Browne Co LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,498,363,000 after purchasing an additional 189,638 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 305.0% during the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 806 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Progressive by 39.8% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 908,764 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $217,753,000 after buying an additional 258,762 shares during the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 60,775 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $14,562,000 after buying an additional 669 shares during the period. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,363,000 after buying an additional 726 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $114,691,485.60. The trade was a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 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 value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sold a total of 66,255 shares of company stock worth $17,250,271 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

Progressive Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $283.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $166.16 billion, a PE ratio of 19.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $266.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $256.15.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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 $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.