B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Acquires 4,717 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG increased its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,928 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,717 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Progressive were worth $9,567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 98.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in Progressive by 90.9% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after buying an additional 3,720 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Progressive by 2,262.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after buying an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Progressive by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,882,000 after acquiring an additional 249,958 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $279.13 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $163.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. 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 Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $265.32 and a 200 day moving average of $255.91.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. 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 is presently 2.78%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total transaction of $110,016.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,370 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,084.80. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,255 shares of company stock worth $14,490,871. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

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.