28,155 Shares in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Acquired by Duality Advisers LP

Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 28,155 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,485,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $840,885,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $802,968,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 14.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,002,542,000 after buying an additional 2,666,449 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,721,345 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $871,826,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $666,004,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154,591 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $279.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price target on Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.88.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded up $4.94 during trading on Friday, hitting $214.69. 4,191,546 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,908,719. The company has a market capitalization of $125.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.36. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $111.41 and a 1-year high of $215.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $199.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.58.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.