Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Grows Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 44.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,458 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,668 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $5,224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its stake in Progressive by 119.0% during the first quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 138 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $288.59.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock traded down $2.37 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $279.80. The stock had a trading volume of 2,520,686 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,651,285. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $276.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $264.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. 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 $164.03 billion, a PE ratio of 19.43, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.37, for a total value of $2,753,700.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 238,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,544,668.88. This represents a 4.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares in the company, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 37,755 shares of company stock valued at $10,367,074. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.