Abacus Planning Group Inc. Has $348,000 Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,453 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Progressive by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in Progressive by 1,650.0% in the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.88.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $269.71 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $186.94 and a 12 month high of $270.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $246.11 and a 200-day moving average of $248.36. The company has a market capitalization of $158.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $2,194,878.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $114,691,485.60. The trade was a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,539,110.22. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.