Horizon Investments LLC Has $2.29 Million Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Horizon Investments LLC boosted its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 12.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,061 shares during the quarter. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $282.64 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $259.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $254.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Hsbc Global Res lowered Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.76.

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.