New Vernon Investment Management LLC Buys 9,349 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

New Vernon Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 36.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 35,046 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,349 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for about 9.6% of New Vernon Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. New Vernon Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $8,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,205,266,000 after purchasing an additional 842,109 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 75.3% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 29,701.6% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 206.8% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 875,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $222,207,000 after purchasing an additional 590,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 457.2% in the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 651,707 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $135,366,000 after purchasing an additional 534,754 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PGR. TD Cowen increased their price target on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.81.

Progressive Stock Down 0.1 %

Progressive stock traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $263.66. The stock had a trading volume of 429,686 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,454,635. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $149.14 and a 12 month high of $270.62. The company has a market capitalization of $154.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $254.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $233.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total value of $549,970.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,462,038.44. This represents a 13.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,982 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $775,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,626,840. This represents a 9.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,839 shares of company stock valued at $4,038,065. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.