Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Has $94.51 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 63.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 394,429 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 153,687 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Progressive worth $94,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 1.3% in the 4th 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 acquired a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $1,843,045,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Progressive by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,480,677,000 after purchasing an additional 710,684 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,451,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547,677 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $288.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $288.24.

Progressive Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of PGR stock opened at $288.11 on Tuesday. 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 firm's 50-day moving average is $275.57 and its 200-day moving average is $262.13. The stock has a market cap of $168.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $201.34 and a 52-week high of $292.99.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. 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 is currently 2.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares of the company's stock, valued at $180,891.35. This represents a 35.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,616,766.16. This represents a 3.88% 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 three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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