Cerity Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 17.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 187,376 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 27,170 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $45,344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Progressive in the third quarter valued at $55,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,444 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $620,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at about $234,000. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 0.8% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 47,631 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $12,087,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc boosted its position in Progressive by 1,480.9% during the third quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 743 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $435,861.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $75,759,663.84. This represents a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

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Progressive Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE PGR traded up $2.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $275.78. The stock had a trading volume of 3,052,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,646,373. The firm has a market cap of $161.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company's 50 day moving average price is $271.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $257.23.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) 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, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America cut shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $300.00 to $287.00 in a report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.