BCS Wealth Management Buys Shares of 846 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

BCS Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 846 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 13.2% in the 3rd 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 period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 21.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after purchasing an additional 842,109 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in shares of Progressive by 75.3% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $379,139,000 after purchasing an additional 641,943 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 29,701.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 596,331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $151,325,000 after purchasing an additional 594,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 206.8% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 875,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $222,207,000 after buying an additional 590,235 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on PGR. HSBC cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of Progressive 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $239.57 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $251.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.00. The company has a market cap of $140.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.41, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $166.92 and a one year high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The company had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.91%.

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.