Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Increases Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,118 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $284.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $266.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $256.35. 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 stock has a market cap of $166.58 billion, a PE ratio of 19.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,255 shares of company stock valued at $17,250,271 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.