Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Purchases 89,145 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 90.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 188,107 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 89,145 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $45,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,795,262,000 after acquiring an additional 583,376 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,498,363,000 after purchasing an additional 189,638 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $1,843,045,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Progressive by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,521,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,323,018,000 after buying an additional 153,044 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,935,250. The trade was a 26.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,891.35. This represents a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,749 shares of company stock valued at $11,786,613 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $320.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $288.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.76.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $265.19 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $274.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $258.15. 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 firm has a market cap of $155.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Progressive Company 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.