Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Acquires 14,061 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 157,058 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,061 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $37,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.06.

Progressive Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE PGR opened at $279.13 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $265.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $255.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $163.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $435,861.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 268,024 shares in the company, valued at $75,759,663.84. The trade was a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $2,194,878.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,691,485.60. The trade was a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,255 shares of company stock valued at $16,877,471. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive 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.