Northern Trust Corp Increases Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 710,684 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.05% of Progressive worth $1,480,677,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PGR. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.76.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,741 shares in the company, valued at $6,935,250. This trade represents a 26.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 sold 43,749 shares of company stock worth $11,786,613 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE:PGR opened at $265.11 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $274.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $258.36. 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 Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.