Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 583,376 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 583,376 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.12% of Progressive worth $12,795,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $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 during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were 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 owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $273.08 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $261.96 and a 200-day moving average of $255.01. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The company has a market cap of $160.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced 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 net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

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.