Black Diamond Financial LLC Invests $210,000 in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Black Diamond Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 876 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Progressive by 98.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 90.9% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after acquiring an additional 3,720 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 7.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 330,667 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Progressive by 2,262.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after acquiring an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $265.99 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.47, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $186.94 and a 1-year 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $246.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $249.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors 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 yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.12.

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.