Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Boosts Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 90.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 188,107 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 89,145 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $45,072,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $1,843,045,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after buying an additional 2,085,833 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $408,416,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Progressive by 34.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,547,677 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $12,795,262,000 after purchasing an additional 583,376 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 1.0 %

PGR traded up $2.67 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $278.98. The company had a trading volume of 934,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,626,797. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.59. The stock has a market cap of $163.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.37, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.87 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid 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 (DPR) is currently 2.70%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total transaction of $2,799,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 269,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,462,306.04. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 43,749 shares of company stock worth $11,972,513 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, March 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $287.41.

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.