Ethic Inc. Has $17.95 Million Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Ethic Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 74,906 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,687 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Progressive were worth $17,948,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $1,843,045,000. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 67.6% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after buying an additional 2,085,833 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $408,416,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,480,677,000 after acquiring an additional 710,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $435,861.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 268,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $75,759,663.84. The trade was a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. 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. Bank of America raised Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $287.65.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $284.33. 1,542,707 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,627,667. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $275.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $260.46. 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 company has a market cap of $166.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.75, a PEG 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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.70%.

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.