SMART Wealth LLC Increases Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

SMART Wealth LLC grew its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 110.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,450 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,286 shares during the quarter. SMART Wealth LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $587,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 114.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in Progressive by 1,650.0% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. The trade was a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PGR shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.71.

Progressive Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $251.33 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $245.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.32. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $180.68 and a 52-week high of $270.62. The firm has a market cap of $147.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.