Baker Avenue Asset Management LP Grows Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 16.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,370 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,930 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP's holdings in Progressive were worth $3,204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 99.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in Progressive by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,069 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 249,958 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 3,764 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $902,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Market Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Market Strategies LLC now owns 1,665 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $282.79 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $259.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a market cap of $165.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.87 billion. As a group, equities 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid 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 yield of 0.14%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on PGR. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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 reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $288.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $287.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,616,766.16. The trade was a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares in the company, valued at $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive 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.

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