First Trust Advisors LP Has $245.11 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 47.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 992,530 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 318,884 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Progressive were worth $245,105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Davis Capital Management acquired a new stake in Progressive in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 450.0% in the 3rd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 165 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Progressive by 41.0% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 196 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Progressive from $214.00 to $205.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $350.00 to $348.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $226.00 to $218.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $245.50.

Progressive Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $210.92 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $208.98 and its 200 day moving average is $223.98. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $197.92 and a one year high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $123.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96, a PEG ratio of 9.20 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.08%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $150,201.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,344 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.80, for a total transaction of $302,131.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,924,379.20. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,103 shares of company stock worth $1,883,924. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

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.