Impax Asset Management Group plc Raises Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 66,680 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,209 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Progressive were worth $15,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 13.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after buying an additional 842,109 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Progressive by 75.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $379,139,000 after buying an additional 641,943 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in Progressive by 102.3% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,024,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $260,102,000 after acquiring an additional 518,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in Progressive in the third quarter worth approximately $125,044,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 2.5 %

Progressive stock opened at $272.91 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $247.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $249.74. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $186.94 and a twelve month high of $275.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. The trade was a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.12.

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.