CWA Asset Management Group LLC Increases Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,764 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $902,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davis Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its position in Progressive by 114.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Sachetta LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 34.0% in the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 209 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter worth $49,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $748,678.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,618,555.95. The trade was a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $242.13 on Wednesday. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $162.35 and a 12-month high of $270.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $240.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.91%.

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.