Freestone Grove Partners LP Invests $29.73 Million in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 124,082 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $29,731,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at $55,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the third quarter worth $2,566,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.2% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,054 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,044,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 55.0% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,583 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 562 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 99.0% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $839,000 after purchasing an additional 1,645 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $320.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America upgraded Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $287.41.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR traded down $0.70 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $282.11. The company had a trading volume of 2,216,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,630,388. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company's 50-day moving average is $274.78 and its 200-day moving average is $259.23. The company has a market capitalization of $165.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted 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 during 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.70%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total transaction of $1,305,919.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. The trade was a 23.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company's 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. This represents a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive 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.