Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Has $426,000 Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC grew its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,673 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 242 shares during the quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $426,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,077 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 683 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its position in Progressive by 6.7% during the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,409 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 3.0% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 85,155 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $11,862,000 after buying an additional 2,452 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the third quarter worth about $618,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Progressive by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 68,634 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $9,561,000 after buying an additional 6,386 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on PGR. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.88.

Progressive Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE PGR traded up $1.58 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $208.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,578,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,623,667. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $111.41 and a 52 week high of $216.21. The stock has a market cap of $121.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were 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 $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139. 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.