Evernest Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 137 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Evernest Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,069 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 98.2% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 90.9% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 25,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,531,000 after purchasing an additional 11,770 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after purchasing an additional 330,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on PGR shares. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. HSBC downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.29.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,500,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,935,250. This trade represents a 26.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,506 shares of company stock worth $13,031,159 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Trading Up 1.1 %

PGR opened at $249.20 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $176.37 and a 12 month high of $270.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $247.67 and a 200 day moving average of $244.27. The firm has a market cap of $145.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.41.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 34.32%. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.03 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

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.