J2 Capital Management Inc Invests $368,000 in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

J2 Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,535 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Davis Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Progressive by 114.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $748,678.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,618,555.95. The trade was a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on PGR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. HSBC cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.24.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $243.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $142.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $166.92 and a twelve month high of $270.62. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $250.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.27.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.91%.

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.