Bailard Inc. Has $2.60 Million Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Bailard Inc. grew its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 16,322 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sycomore Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 294.6% during the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 8,546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,347,000 after buying an additional 6,380 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 13,827 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,202,000 after buying an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 20,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,265,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 7,429.0% in the fourth quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 29,589 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,713,000 after acquiring an additional 29,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 1,086.6% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,329 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen began coverage on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 price target on the stock. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $279.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of Progressive stock traded down $2.55 on Friday, hitting $207.52. The company had a trading volume of 595,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,584,789. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $202.07 and a 200-day moving average of $177.06. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $111.41 and a 1 year high of $216.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.36.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.