First National Trust Co Grows Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

First National Trust Co increased its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 607.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,950 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 17,132 shares during the quarter. First National Trust Co's holdings in Progressive were worth $4,780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. HSBC downgraded shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $267.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $281.76.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 62,257 shares of company stock worth $15,752,781. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock traded up $4.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $283.87. The company had a trading volume of 2,223,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,388,837. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock's 50-day moving average is $258.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $254.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $287.49.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted 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, analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.78%.

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.