Little House Capital LLC Makes New $754,000 Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Little House Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,145 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $754,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded up $5.78 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $269.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,223,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,521,833. 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 stock's 50 day simple moving average is $245.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $248.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $186.94 and a fifty-two week high of $270.79.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share 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, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive's payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PGR. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James raised Progressive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, HSBC cut Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $267.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $275.88.

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.