The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Holdings Reduced by Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 12.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,470 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 350 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Plancorp LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 1,301 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 55,522 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,304,000 after acquiring an additional 17,545 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Progressive by 116.3% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 64,908 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,553,000 after purchasing an additional 34,897 shares in the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP lifted its position in Progressive by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Sciencast Management LP now owns 12,617 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Finally, Washington Trust Bank boosted its stake in Progressive by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 1,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $479,391.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 26,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,546,174.02. The trade was a 5.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 65,855 shares of company stock worth $16,767,455 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $274.07 on Tuesday. 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 $160.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s 50-day moving average is $262.72 and its 200-day moving average is $255.19. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 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.