Gunderson Capital Management Inc. Acquires New Shares in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Gunderson Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 14,385 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,071,000. Progressive accounts for approximately 2.6% of Gunderson Capital Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $12,795,262,000 after purchasing an additional 583,376 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,498,363,000 after purchasing an additional 189,638 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $1,843,045,000. Northern Trust Corp raised 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 worth $1,480,677,000 after buying an additional 710,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Bank of America raised shares of Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note 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.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $288.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.81, for a total transaction of $351,985.27. Following the sale, the insider now owns 28,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,025,375.28. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.37, for a total transaction of $2,753,700.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,651 shares of company stock valued at $12,017,780 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded down $1.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $287.37. 2,896,475 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,647,772. The business's 50 day moving average is $276.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $263.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.