The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Acquired by Hartford Funds Management Co LLC

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC increased its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,981 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PGR. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 15.3% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,622 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $665,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 11.3% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,525 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,402,000 after buying an additional 562 shares during the period. M&G PLC grew its stake in Progressive by 17.6% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 107,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $27,275,000 after buying an additional 16,095 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 4.4% during the third quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 1,292 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Graypoint LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 12.6% during the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,732 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,201,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE PGR opened at $281.00 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $193.85 and a 12 month high of $287.49. 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 $164.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $253.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $252.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $115,255,231.44. This trade represents a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $14,102,075. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PGR. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.59.

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.