Second Half Financial Partners LLC Purchases New Shares in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Second Half Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,008 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $481,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,843,045,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 67.6% in 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. acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $408,416,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted 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 buying an additional 1,547,677 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 583,376 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America raised Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $288.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. 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 company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $287.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $66,616,766.16. The trade was a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business'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 value of $99,421.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares in the company, valued at $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 53,749 shares of company stock valued at $14,472,513 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded up $6.79 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $276.37. 2,690,518 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,633,336. The stock has a market cap of $162.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $274.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $258.59. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.