Panagora Asset Management Inc. Purchases 323 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,833,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Progressive by 14.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,002,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,449 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $666,004,000 after buying an additional 1,154,591 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 102.9% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,131,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $296,932,000 after buying an additional 1,080,834 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $88,528,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 279.2% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 811,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $129,237,000 after acquiring an additional 597,401 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE PGR opened at $209.22 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $122.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $111.41 and a 12-month high of $217.77. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.91.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 4.09%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,500 shares of company stock worth $8,983,706 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PGR shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $214.88.

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.