Sciencast Management LP Purchases 1,543 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sciencast Management LP boosted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,617 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,023,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Washington Trust Bank increased its holdings in Progressive by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 1,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 10,794 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,586,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 2,169.7% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 14,322 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,432,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691 shares in the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 163.9% in the 4th quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 3,220 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 156.6% during the fourth quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,245 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Down 0.6 %

PGR opened at $273.08 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $261.96 and a 200 day moving average of $254.99. The firm has a market cap of $160.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on PGR. UBS Group raised their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $2,681,299.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,255,231.44. This represents a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.