West Family Investments Inc. Acquires 75 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $477,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Progressive by 14.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,002,542,000 after buying an additional 2,666,449 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Progressive by 31.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $666,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,591 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 102.9% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,131,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $296,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080,834 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 10.5% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,916,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $963,463,000 after buying an additional 655,706 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the third quarter worth $88,528,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.88.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR traded down $1.51 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $210.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 497,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,595,164. The company’s 50-day moving average is $203.61 and its 200-day moving average is $179.05. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $111.41 and a 52 week high of $216.21. The firm has a market cap of $123.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.36.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued 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 company had revenue of $18.96 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive 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.