Nebula Research & Development LLC Invests $3.78 Million in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 15,771 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,779,000. Progressive accounts for approximately 0.4% of Nebula Research & Development LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the third quarter worth about $55,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,566,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,044,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 55.0% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,583 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 99.0% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.76.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $265.19 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $155.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $274.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $258.15. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total value of $1,305,919.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. This trade represents a 23.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 27,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,935,250. This trade represents a 26.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,749 shares of company stock valued at $11,786,613 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.