The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Stock Position Increased by Oakworth Capital Inc.

Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 22.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 643 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 117 shares during the quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $102,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $840,885,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $802,968,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,002,542,000 after buying an additional 2,666,449 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,721,345 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $871,826,000 after buying an additional 1,361,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 31.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $666,004,000 after buying an additional 1,154,591 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. HSBC boosted their target price on Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.88.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Trading Up 0.4 %

Progressive stock opened at $209.12 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $198.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $122.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $111.41 and a 12 month high of $212.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.09 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

About Progressive

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.