Focus Partners Wealth Boosts Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 112,592 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,496 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth's holdings in Progressive were worth $26,988,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $12,795,262,000 after acquiring an additional 583,376 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,498,363,000 after acquiring an additional 189,638 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,843,045,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 34.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,547,677 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on PGR. Bank of America upgraded shares of Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. 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 research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $287.65.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total value of $1,305,919.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,248,922.70. This trade represents a 23.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,759,663.84. This trade represents a 0.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded down $4.26 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $278.33. The company had a trading volume of 2,421,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,639,016. The company has a fifty day moving average of $275.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $260.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month 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.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. 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%.

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.