Pinion Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 2,471 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Pinion Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,471 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $592,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Progressive by 98.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after acquiring an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 7.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after purchasing an additional 330,667 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Progressive by 2,262.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America raised their price target on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.59.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total value of $2,799,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 269,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,462,306.04. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $14,102,075 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR opened at $284.95 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $251.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $251.57. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $187.32 and a 52-week high of $285.28. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $166.93 billion, a PE ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

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.