Capital International Investors Purchases 322,652 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Capital International Investors boosted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,327,453 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 322,652 shares during the quarter. Capital International Investors owned approximately 0.91% of Progressive worth $1,276,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR remained flat at $265.08 during trading hours on Wednesday. The company's stock had a trading volume of 945,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,634,597. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company's fifty day moving average is $274.00 and its 200 day moving average is $257.97. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $201.34 and a 12-month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.87 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PGR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "market perform" rating and set a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $285.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at $71,199,142.56. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $180,891.35. This represents a 35.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 43,749 shares of company stock valued at $11,786,613. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by 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.