Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $433.35 Million Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 10.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,808,541 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 176,714 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.31% of Progressive worth $433,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares in the company, valued at $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,645,222.40. This represents a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 43,749 shares of company stock worth $11,786,613. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $288.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $285.76.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded up $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $265.09. The company had a trading volume of 2,001,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,638,902. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.41, 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 firm's fifty day moving average is $274.00 and its 200 day moving average is $257.97.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

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.