Ieq Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,747 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,907 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $11,920,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PGR. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 237 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its position in shares of Progressive by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Monument Capital Management increased its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 13,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,298,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE PGR opened at $269.71 on Thursday. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $186.94 and a fifty-two week high of $270.79. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $246.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $248.36. The stock has a market cap of $158.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.88.

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.