SVB Wealth LLC Acquires New Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 31,323 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,505,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PGR. Illumine Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $1,785,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Progressive by 133.2% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 92,962 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $22,275,000 after acquiring an additional 53,095 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP grew its holdings in Progressive by 95.3% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 5,870 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,407,000 after acquiring an additional 2,865 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 36,819.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,195 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $136,145,000 after acquiring an additional 566,656 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Progressive by 85.7% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 14,953 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,583,000 after acquiring an additional 6,901 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $282.02 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $186.94 and a fifty-two week high of $282.40. The stock has a market cap of $165.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $250.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.91.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share 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 anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,935,250. This trade represents a 26.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,361 shares of company stock valued at $11,302,675 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays increased their price target on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.59.

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.