Bridges Investment Management Inc. Decreases Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 412,772 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 11,592 shares during the quarter. Progressive makes up about 1.4% of Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Bridges Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Progressive worth $98,904,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,361 shares of company stock worth $11,302,675 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.59.

Progressive Trading Up 1.2 %

PGR opened at $282.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $165.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $250.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $251.11. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $186.94 and a 52 week high of $282.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

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.