1,099 Shares in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Bought by Straightline Group LLC

Straightline Group LLC bought a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,099 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $12,795,262,000 after purchasing an additional 583,376 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,498,363,000 after acquiring an additional 189,638 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,843,045,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,521,545 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,323,018,000 after acquiring an additional 153,044 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,239,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085,833 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Stock Up 1.0 %

PGR stock traded up $2.60 during trading on Friday, hitting $275.78. 3,052,599 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,657,216. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $201.34 and a 52-week high of $292.99. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $271.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $257.20.

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Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $234,044.98. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,787 shares in the company, valued at $8,463,329.23. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $142,324.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,024.07. This represents a 12.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $317.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $300.00 to $287.00 in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $283.71.

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.