DGS Capital Management LLC Takes Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,806 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $458,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,253,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in Progressive by 6.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,069 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $525,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 65.8% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 72,163 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $18,312,000 after buying an additional 28,636 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 270.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 11,833 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,003,000 after acquiring an additional 8,639 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 99.0% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. HSBC downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 7,696 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.21, for a total value of $1,964,096.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,876,384.69. This represents a 33.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,982 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $775,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,334 shares in the company, valued at $7,626,840. This represents a 9.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 25,839 shares of company stock worth $6,718,965. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of PGR opened at $251.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.38. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $149.14 and a 52 week high of $270.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $253.91 and a 200-day moving average of $236.56.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.91%.

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.