Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Buys 42,496 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 351,455 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 42,496 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.06% of Progressive worth $84,212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 641,190 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $153,636,000 after purchasing an additional 34,462 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,843,045,000. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,699,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 4,120 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $987,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 35,983 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $8,622,000 after acquiring an additional 8,609 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

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Progressive Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE PGR traded up $4.44 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $285.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,234,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,942,336. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.83, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $267.83 and a 200 day moving average of $256.52.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now 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. Insiders have sold 66,255 shares of company stock valued at $17,250,271 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $281.06.

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.