Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Sells 3,782 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. cut its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,782 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $13,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake 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 worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.76.

Progressive Stock Down 3.6 %

Progressive stock opened at $273.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.14 billion, a PE ratio of 18.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $260.59 and a 200-day moving average of $254.70.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.