Jones Financial Companies Lllp Purchases 7,032 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 45.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,494 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,032 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in Progressive were worth $5,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $6,263,763,000 after acquiring an additional 315,411 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,652,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,213 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,669,204,000 after acquiring an additional 170,618 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,205,266,000 after acquiring an additional 842,109 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE PGR traded down $1.35 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $281.84. 2,485,532 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,634,508. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $191.00 and a 12 month high of $287.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $252.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $252.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $165.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays increased their target price on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Progressive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $277.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total transaction of $2,799,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 269,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $75,462,306.04. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $14,102,075 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.