Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,509,705 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 146,130 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.60% of Progressive worth $559,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of Progressive by 143.6% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. HSBC boosted their price objective on Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now 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. 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 Stock Performance

PGR stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $215.53. 2,706,155 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,609,659. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business has a 50-day moving average of $205.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $180.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.24 billion, a PE ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.34. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $111.41 and a 52 week high of $216.33.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its 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. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The business had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 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%.

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.