Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. Acquires New Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,044 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 90.9% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,983,000 after acquiring an additional 3,720 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $255,882,000 after acquiring an additional 249,958 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Progressive Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of PGR traded down $4.94 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $279.35. 924,198 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,941,598. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $201.34 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $266.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $256.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $163.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is 2.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PGR. 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 report on Thursday, December 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $281.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $435,861.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 268,024 shares in the company, valued at $75,759,663.84. The trade was a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,255 shares of company stock valued at $17,250,271 over the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Progressive

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.