The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Holdings Lifted by Horizon Investment Services LLC

Horizon Investment Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 17,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,462 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for 1.8% of Horizon Investment Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Horizon Investment Services LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $4,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $279.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $163.64 billion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $265.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $255.82. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released 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 return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $2,194,878.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. The trade was a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction 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. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,255 shares of company stock worth $16,877,471 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.