Raymond James & Associates Has $226.09 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,093,153 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 50,640 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.19% of Progressive worth $226,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.9% in the first quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC now owns 29,867 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,199,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in Progressive by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 45,887 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $9,530,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 1st quarter worth approximately $249,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in Progressive by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,292 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $4,197,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 1st quarter worth approximately $987,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PGR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $279.00 to $273.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $211.88.

Progressive Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of PGR stock traded down $2.04 on Friday, hitting $208.03. The stock had a trading volume of 2,628,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,796,081. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $111.41 and a twelve month high of $216.21. The firm has a market cap of $121.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.29, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $202.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.76.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

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.