The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Acquired by Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,553,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,892 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for about 0.8% of Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s holdings in Progressive were worth $372,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth about $55,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,566,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,044,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 55.0% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,583 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 99.0% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after buying an additional 1,645 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $479,391.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 26,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,546,174.02. This represents a 5.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total transaction of $2,799,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 269,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,462,306.04. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $281.81 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $165.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.75. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $201.34 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued 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 was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

Progressive 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.