The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Bought by Meeder Advisory Services Inc.

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,118 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted 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 worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position 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 Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $284.16 on Wednesday. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $166.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $266.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $256.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced 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%. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares in the company, valued at $75,759,663.84. This represents a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction 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 represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,255 shares of company stock worth $17,250,271. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.06.

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.