Federated Hermes Inc. Boosts Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 185.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 99,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 64,612 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $15,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new stake in Progressive in the third quarter valued at about $228,000. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 45.3% in the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 1,665 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 102.1% during the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,192,000 after acquiring an additional 7,949 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,933 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, RDA Financial Network grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 27.6% during the 3rd quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 2,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $213.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.35. 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 Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $111.41 and a 52-week high of $216.21. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $200.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.08.

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 the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.22 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen started coverage on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.