Independent Advisor Alliance Grows Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Independent Advisor Alliance raised its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,699 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Progressive were worth $6,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $2,681,299.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. This trade represents a 2.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,257 shares of company stock valued at $15,752,781. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. Barclays upped their price target on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Hsbc Global Res cut Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.59.

Progressive Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $278.74 on Tuesday. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $195.43 and a one year high of $287.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $255.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $253.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.36, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

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.