Avestar Capital LLC Buys 271 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Avestar Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,341 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.2% in the third 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. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after buying an additional 842,109 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in Progressive by 75.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $379,139,000 after buying an additional 641,943 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 29,701.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 596,331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $151,325,000 after acquiring an additional 594,330 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Progressive by 102.3% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,024,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $260,102,000 after acquiring an additional 518,262 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PGR. Bank of America upped their price objective on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.71.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $262.02 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $244.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $246.64. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $182.23 and a one year high of $270.62. The stock has a market cap of $153.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

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.