Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Purchases 3,747 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 155.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,154 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,747 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $1,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its stake in Progressive by 32.7% in the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 4,629 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $961,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares during the last quarter. Argent Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.2% during the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 1,827 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 148.5% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 387,455 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $80,478,000 after acquiring an additional 231,567 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 55.4% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $610,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 37,838 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $7,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,809 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Progressive stock traded down $1.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $243.79. 1,967,879 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,000,825. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $250.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $242.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $166.92 and a twelve month high of $270.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.41.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. Research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 13.52 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive's payout ratio is 2.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America upped their target price on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Six 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $275.24.

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.