Mariner LLC Buys 7,111 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Mariner LLC lifted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 172,591 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,111 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $41,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds 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 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised 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 worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Progressive from $289.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.76.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $234,044.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,463,329.23. The trade was a 2.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $2,681,299.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $115,255,231.44. This trade represents a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR traded down $9.68 during trading on Friday, hitting $265.45. The stock had a trading volume of 3,648,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,642,950. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company's 50-day moving average price is $273.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $257.84. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion during 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 research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Progressive 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.