Abacus Planning Group Inc. Has $470,000 Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 14.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,795,262,000 after purchasing an additional 583,376 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,498,363,000 after purchasing an additional 189,638 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,843,045,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Progressive by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,480,677,000 after buying an additional 710,684 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.81, for a total value of $351,985.27. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,025,375.28. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,755 shares of company stock valued at $10,367,074. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Trading Down 0.4%

PGR opened at $279.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $276.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $264.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Bank of America upgraded Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 price target on shares of Progressive and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.59.

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.