Lion Street Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Lion Street Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 26.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 114.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in Progressive by 1,650.0% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. The trade was a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,935,250. The trade was a 26.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE PGR opened at $248.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $145.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $179.90 and a fifty-two week high of $270.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $246.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

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.