Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Buys 69,178 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 73.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 163,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 69,178 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $39,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth 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 period. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth 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. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% during the fourth 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 period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $277.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $162.69 billion, a PE ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $197.77 and a fifty-two week high of $287.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $256.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $253.50.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released 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 return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.59.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.00, for a total value of $344,787.00. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 28,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,978,433. This represents a 4.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,257 shares of company stock worth $15,752,781 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.