WINTON GROUP Ltd Makes New Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,043 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $1,239,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085,833 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 13.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 583,376 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 36,819.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,195 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,145,000 after purchasing an additional 566,656 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total value of $110,016.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,370 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,084.80. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $115,255,231.44. This represents a 2.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,255 shares of company stock worth $14,490,871 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $279.13 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $265.32 and a 200-day moving average of $255.91. The firm has a market cap of $163.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PGR. Barclays boosted their price objective on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. HSBC cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

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.