Vident Advisory LLC Purchases 65,317 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 314.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,108 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 65,317 shares during the quarter. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $20,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 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 $479,391.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 26,697 shares in the company, valued at $7,546,174.02. The trade was a 5.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total value of $2,685,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 248,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $66,616,766.16. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,384 shares of company stock worth $11,711,495 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $288.24.

Progressive Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of PGR stock traded up $0.21 on Friday, reaching $277.33. 1,677,588 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,641,453. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $162.58 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $275.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $262.86.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. 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%.

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.