Capital Market Strategies LLC Increases Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Capital Market Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 28.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,665 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Davis Capital Management bought a new stake in Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its position in Progressive by 114.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter worth $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $748,678.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,618,555.95. This trade represents a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,981 shares of company stock valued at $5,816,178 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.94.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock traded down $1.31 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $240.91. 609,687 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,706,473. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $251.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $240.50. The company has a market cap of $141.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $162.35 and a 12-month high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.17%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.91%.

Progressive Company 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.