Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Raises Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 638.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,307 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Progressive were worth $971,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Davis Capital Management bought a new stake in Progressive during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 119.6% during the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank increased its holdings in Progressive by 126.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 165 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 114.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total transaction of $549,970.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,462,038.44. The trade was a 13.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total value of $10,937,914.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at $119,475,967. The trade was a 8.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,209 shares of company stock valued at $14,975,979 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Hsbc Global Res raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.81.

Progressive Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of PGR stock opened at $266.86 on Thursday. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $149.14 and a 12-month high of $270.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $253.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $232.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.36.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The company had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.