State of Wyoming Acquires 3,044 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

State of Wyoming lifted its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 195.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,044 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,843,045,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 67.6% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after acquiring an additional 2,085,833 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $408,416,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,451,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,480,677,000 after purchasing an additional 710,684 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America upgraded Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.65.

Progressive Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $285.93 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. 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 company has a market capitalization of $167.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $275.35 and a 200 day moving average of $261.68.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 248,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,616,766.16. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.