Savant Capital LLC Increases Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 28.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 143.6% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Progressive 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 90 days, insiders sold 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR opened at $209.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $122.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.34. 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 1-year low of $111.41 and a 1-year high of $216.21. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $203.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $179.25.

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. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.