Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Grows Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2,169.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,322 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,691 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 163.9% in the 4th quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 3,220 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $772,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 156.6% during the 4th quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,245 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,370 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in Progressive by 888.1% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 42,914 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,282,000 after acquiring an additional 38,571 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,863 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 50.3% during the fourth quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 23,517 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,635,000 after purchasing an additional 7,866 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:PGR opened at $273.08 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $261.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $254.99. The stock has a market cap of $160.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued 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%. Equities analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,759,663.84. This trade represents a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the business’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 value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.06.

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.