Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Purchases 59,892 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,553,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 59,892 shares during the quarter. Progressive comprises about 0.8% of Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned about 0.27% of Progressive worth $372,348,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Progressive by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after buying an additional 415,628 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Progressive by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,882,000 after acquiring an additional 249,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,253,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total value of $1,305,919.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,248,922.70. This represents a 23.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 248,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,616,766.16. This trade represents a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Up 2.0 %

PGR stock opened at $281.81 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $274.61 and a 200 day moving average of $258.75. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $165.21 billion, a PE ratio of 19.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion for 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given 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 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.41.

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.