Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Purchases 2,660 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 293,372 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,660 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina owned approximately 0.05% of Progressive worth $70,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Progressive by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 5,239 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,255,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. raised its holdings in Progressive by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 11,414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,735,000 after acquiring an additional 2,890 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP raised its stake in Progressive by 436.5% during the 4th quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 8,177 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,959,000 after acquiring an additional 6,653 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,271,000. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 139.8% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 502,013 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $116,164,000 after buying an additional 292,653 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 4.0 %

Shares of PGR stock opened at $270.69 on Thursday. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99. 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 stock has a market cap of $158.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $270.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $256.95.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. 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 payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $234,044.98. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,463,329.23. The trade was a 2.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $2,681,299.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 have sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $300.00 to $287.00 in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $288.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.41.

Progressive Company 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.