Natural Investments LLC Makes New $214,000 Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Natural Investments LLC acquired a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 897 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in 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 period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its holdings 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 worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $277.52 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $256.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $253.50. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $197.77 and a 52 week high of $287.49. The stock has a market cap of $162.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS 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, research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the business’s 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 $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $164,870.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,257 shares of company stock worth $15,752,781 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. HSBC cut 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. Barclays lifted their price objective on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America cut their target price on Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.59.

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.