Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Purchases 1,217 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1,086.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,329 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Progressive were worth $212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 buying an additional 2,666,449 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 31.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $666,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,591 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 102.9% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,131,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $296,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080,834 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Progressive by 10.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,916,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 655,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the third quarter valued at approximately $88,528,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.88.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $210.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $123.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $111.41 and a 1 year high of $216.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $201.66 and a 200 day moving average of $176.83.

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 firm had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 11.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

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.