Vanguard Group Inc. Has $12.80 Billion Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 583,376 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.09% of Progressive worth $12,795,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stevens Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Progressive by 218.5% in the 4th quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 9,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,267,000 after buying an additional 6,490 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 473,677 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $113,498,000 after buying an additional 82,404 shares in the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $476,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,631,000. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 19,062 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,567,000 after buying an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:PGR opened at $273.08 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $261.96 and its 200-day moving average is $255.01. 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 firm has a market cap of $160.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were 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 directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % 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, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % 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 ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PGR. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

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.