The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Stock Position Raised by Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,860 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Navellier & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 58.8% during the 4th quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 58,118 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,926,000 after acquiring an additional 21,524 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,487,000. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 933.3% during the 4th quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC now owns 9,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,228,000 after acquiring an additional 8,400 shares during the last quarter. Compass Capital Corp MA ADV acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $490,000. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $846,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $265.99 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $155.82 billion, a PE ratio of 18.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $186.94 and a one year high of $270.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $246.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $249.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive 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 owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. The trade was a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays raised their target price on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.12.

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.