World Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 1,645 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 99.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,645 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Progressive by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,263,763,000 after buying an additional 315,411 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 13.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,213 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,669,204,000 after acquiring an additional 170,618 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,286,036,000 after purchasing an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,022,507,000 after purchasing an additional 92,212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Progressive from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.81.

Progressive Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE PGR opened at $250.25 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $146.60 billion, a PE ratio of 18.19, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $154.38 and a 12 month high of $270.62. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $254.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $237.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. Equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.91%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. The trade was a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total transaction of $549,970.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,462,038.44. The trade was a 13.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,839 shares of company stock worth $6,718,965 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.