SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 858 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 37,870 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $9,074,000 after purchasing an additional 3,259 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 31.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,367 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 3,756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $900,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Providence First Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $188,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,864 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,124,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of PGR opened at $283.09 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $251.93 and its 200 day moving average is $251.90. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $189.40 and a fifty-two week high of $287.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.83 billion, a PE ratio of 19.66, a P/E/G 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.

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, 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $14,102,075 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on PGR. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.