Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. Invests $737,000 in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. bought a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 3,077 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $737,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PGR. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $287.65.

Progressive Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Progressive stock traded up $3.13 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $283.38. 3,014,496 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,636,413. 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 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $166.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The stock's fifty day moving average is $275.13 and its 200 day moving average is $260.72.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.87 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total transaction of $1,305,919.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,248,922.70. This trade represents a 23.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares in the company, valued at $180,891.35. This represents a 35.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097. 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.