Castellan Group Invests $479,000 in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Castellan Group purchased a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $479,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,263,763,000 after acquiring an additional 315,411 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Progressive by 13.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after purchasing an additional 170,618 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 7.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,286,036,000 after buying an additional 330,667 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 21.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,205,266,000 after buying an additional 842,109 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $256.66 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $244.86 and a 200-day moving average of $246.57. The company has a market cap of $150.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. 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 Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $180.72 and a 1 year high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 14.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.78%.

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.