The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 2,262.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 433,999 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.07% of Progressive worth $103,990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Davis Capital Management acquired a new stake in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 114.1% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $748,678.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 32,919 shares of company stock valued at $8,222,168 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. HSBC downgraded Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Progressive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Six research 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 presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $275.24.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR traded up $2.41 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $242.17. 3,498,037 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,679,767. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $242.00. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $166.92 and a fifty-two week high of $270.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. As a group, research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 EPS 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 issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

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.