Blue Trust Inc. Raises Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 38.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,222 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 197.5% during the 2nd quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 592 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 20.6% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 30,429 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,320,000 after purchasing an additional 5,199 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 21.3% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 262 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 3.3% in the second quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 12,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth $36,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. HSBC downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.65.

Progressive Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of PGR stock opened at $246.83 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $144.60 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.41. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $175.50 and a 1 year high of $270.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $248.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $243.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following 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 sold 42,506 shares of company stock valued at $10,531,159 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.