Alberta Investment Management Corp Has $3.31 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Alberta Investment Management Corp raised its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,800 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management grew its stake in Progressive by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 1,011 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $242,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Accuvest Global Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,472,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $761,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,336 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,279,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $312,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on PGR. Bank of America upped their price objective on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.12.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $267.83 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $186.94 and a 52 week high of $270.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $246.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $248.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 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 $46,241.10. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.