Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Buys 36,500 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 186,595 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 36,500 shares during the period. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Progressive were worth $44,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during 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, Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on PGR shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $281.41.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $234,044.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,463,329.23. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Up 1.9 %

PGR traded up $5.16 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $275.27. 2,148,908 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,651,074. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $270.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $256.95. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The company has a market cap of $161.37 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

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.