Plato Investment Management Ltd Acquires 3,542 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,663 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,542 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Progressive were worth $5,644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 106.6% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co increased its position in Progressive by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 162 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its position in Progressive by 833.3% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 168 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Progressive from $208.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price objective on Progressive in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Progressive from $295.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.39.

Progressive Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:PGR opened at $193.85 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $191.75 and a fifty-two week high of $289.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 0.31. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $202.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.43.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total value of $745,604.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,857,776. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total value of $460,111.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 26,250 shares in the company, valued at $5,330,062.50. The trade was a 7.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Company Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.